ROME, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- A German search-and-rescue NGO picked up and brought to Italy migrants who were not in danger of drowning in the Mediterranean, local media quoted prosecutors as saying Thursday.
Crew members from the NGO called Jugend Rettet (German for Youth Rescue) could face charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Under Italian law, aiding illegal immigrants is a crime if the immigrants in question are not in imminent danger of dying. Investigators say they have documented at least three episodes in which Jugend Rettet rescuers picked up migrants from boats that were not in distress, after being in direct contact with human traffickers.
Italian media showed police surveillance photos that appear to show the Jugend Rettet crew ferrying migrants from a trafficker's boat to their own vessel, called the Iuventa.
The Italian Coast Guard seized the Iuventa by court order on Wednesday off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island.
The investigation into Jugend Rettet reportedly involved at least one under-cover agent, a bug placed in the Iuventa's command cabin, and testimony from operators from Save the Children NGO.
However, Italian prosecutors are not accusing the German NGO of acting in collusion with the traffickers, which would bring an additional charge of criminal conspiracy. "The people involved did not act in exchange for money," ANSA quoted Prosecutor Ambrosio Cartosio as saying. "My personal belief is that the (Jugend Rettet) crew acted out of humanitarian motives," Cartosio said.
The Iuventa crew members have not been identified. They are staying at hotels in Lampedusa, public broadcaster RAI News24 reported.
"For us, the rescue of human life is and will be top priority, so we are very sorry we are not able to operate in the Search and Rescue zone at the moment," Jugend Rettet tweeted after their ship was seized.
Jugend Rettet on Monday refused to sign a code of conduct for migrant search-and-rescue in the Mediterranean drawn up by the Italian government.
Italian prosecutors have been investigating alleged contacts between NGOs and migrant traffickers from Libya for several months.
