ROME, June 8 (Xinhua) -- An Eritrean man allegedly leading the human traffic of migrants in the Mediterranean was extradited to Italy from Sudan, local media reported on Wednesday.
Mered Yehdego Medhanie, 35, was arrested in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on May 24, and flown to the Italian capital on Tuesday night, according to ANSA news agency.
The man was believed to be the ringleader of a wide criminal network responsible for smuggling thousands of people from Africa to Italy and further into Europe.
Prosecutors in Palermo, Sicily, had launched the criminal investigation, which led to his capture on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued in April 2015.
It was the first time a suspected leader of the human traffic operation that is behind the European migration crisis was captured in Africa and swiftly extradited.
The operation was led by the Italian Central Operational Service (SCO) of the Anti-Crime Directorate, with the support of the British National Crime Agency and Sudanese intelligence.
The man stands accused of international people smuggling, and was expected to appear in court in Palermo on Wednesday.
Eavesdropping on his conversations, investigators were able to check Medhanie's frequent trips between Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the United Arab Emirates, and several European countries, which "would prove the transnational dimension of his criminal network," ANSA wrote.
"Mered is accused of being the advocate and the boss of one of the most important criminal groups operating in central Africa and Libya, which smuggles people first across the Sahara desert, and then through the Mediterranean Sea," a statement from the Palermo prosecution office led by Francesco Lo Voi said.
Prosecutors also suspected Medhanie had been working in close association with an Ethiopian national, Ermias Ghermay, who is still at large.
The two alleged traffickers are thought to be responsible for one of the worst sea tragedies occurred in the last few years, from which prosecutors in Palermo started their investigation.
In fact, Medhanie and Ghermay allegedly arranged the transport of a migrant boat that sank off the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa on Oct. 3, 2013. Some 540 people of mostly Eritrean origin were aboard the vessel, and 366 of them died.
In one phone recording, which was unveiled by investigators and published in newspapers in 2015, Medhanie reportedly estimated to have smuggled between 7,000 and 8,000 people.
In another, he was heard laughing at the idea of the overloaded migrant boats he arranged passage for.
"They say about me that I let too many people on board the barges, but it is them who want to leave immediately ... I just make them happy," the Eritrean reportedly said in the conversation.
Prosecutors believe Medhanie charged each migrant between 4,000 and 5,000 euros (4,560 to 5,700 U.S. dollars) to travel from their country of origin to northern Europe through Italy, according to Italian media.
