Yahoo News French police ‘admit driving two migrants without documentation over the Italian border by accident’
French police have admitted driving two migrants without documentation over the border into Italy and leaving them there.
Italian police said they spotted a van belonging to French gendarmes near Claviere, a ski resort in the Alps along the border between the two countries.
Reports say French police have apologised for bringing the migrants over the border without Italy’s permission, calling their actions “a mistake”.
It was reported that French officers took two men out of their van and into some woods on the Italian side of the border, near Turin, before driving back to France.
Italian officers captured part of the alleged incident on camera, reports say, and an investigation has been launched by public prosecutors.
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French police said they did notify a police station in Italy about the plan to deport the migrants, but their vehicle was not supposed to cross the border.
Officials in France said the police officers were new to their posts and unfamiliar with the area. The French department’s prefect, Cécile Bigot-Dekeyzer told Le Dauphine that it was “an error on the part of the officers”.
But Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini called for “clear, swift and unequivocal answers” from France.
In a Facebook post, he said: “I don’t want to believe that [Emmanuel] Macron’s France would use its own police to secretly unload immigrants in Italy.
“But if anyone seriously thinks they can use us as Europe’s refugee camp, violating laws, borders and agreements, they are sorely mistaken.”
Italian news agency ANSA said Italian police surveillance cameras captured the French vehicle on video. ANSA says the two people who got out of the truck were believed to be African migrants.
