BARI -- Two Ukrainian people smugglers have been arrested Monday after having been detained in a sailing boat holding 50 migrants by the Italian Finance Guard law enforcement agency off the Salento coastline.

 The group of migrants found aboard the sailing boat were all of supposed Pakistani nationality, and were found in to be in good health conditions.

 The boat that was stopped by this branch of the Italian armed forces that works under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance was about 12 metres long and was thought to have probably departed from the Turkish coast.

 The operation was undertaken by two naval units from the Operational Naval and Aviation Department of Bari’s Finance Guard and by Taranto’s Naval and Aviation Group, which carries out work for the Local Frontex Coordination Centre for ‘Triton 2016’, an EU border security operation under Italian control.

 nkd