Suspected smuggler in deadly shipwreck sent back to Italy

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian police say Austrian authorities have handed over one of the suspected smugglers of the boat which capsized in February off southern Italy in a tragedy that killed 92 migrants. Police said Friday that the suspect is a 27-year-old Turk who was arrested on March 7 near Graz in Austria. Prosecutors in Calabria are investigating the shipwreck which occurred in late February just offshore the beach town of Cutro. There were 80 survivors. Prosecutors are also investigating whether the Italian coast guard should have been dispatched hours earlier in time to prevent the deaths. The conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has sharply raised criminal penalties against people-smugglers who cause death but denied any blame for the tragedy.