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The Latest: Italy prosecutor: no NGO-trafficker links found

Posted July 02, 2019 7:00 am

The Associated Press

An Italian Coast Guard boat patrols next to the Sea-Watch 3 vessel, in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coasts of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, Thursday, June 27, 2019. Carola Rackete, the captain of the humanitarian rescue ship said that Italian law enforcement officials have told them that a resolution is near for 42 migrants rescued at sea that Italyâs populist government has so far refused to allow to disembark. (ANSA/Matteo Guidelli via AP) The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) - The Latest on migration issues in Europe (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

An Italian prosecutor says investigators have not found any proof that migrant traffickers are in cahoots with charity rescue groups.

Italian news agency ANSA quoted Sicily-based Prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio as telling lawmakers in Rome that they haven't found any trace of communication that suggests traffickers are tipping charity rescue groups about the whereabouts of migrants so they "come closer and get them.'"

Anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini won't let humanitarian rescue boats disembark migrants because he contends they essentially help traffickers.

Patronaggio is currently investigating the German captain of Sea-Watch 3, which docked at an Italian island last week without Italy's permission and disembarked 40 rescued migrants.

At a judge's closed-door hearing Monday to determine if Capt. Carola Rackete stays under house arrest, Patronaggio said he argued that Rackete deliberately steered her vessel into a police motorboat in her path.

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1:20 p.m.

German humanitarian group Sea-Watch says the captain of its rescue ship detained in Italy acted in accordance with international law when she forced her way into port in Lampedusa with 40 migrants on board.

Captain Carola Rackete was expected to learn Tuesday whether she'll remain under house arrest as the investigation continues into her actions, which included ramming a border police motorboat.

Sea-Watch spokesman Ruben Neugebauer said the 31-year-old had announced her plans to dock after declaring an emergency 60 hours earlier and compared the situation to a police vehicle preventing an ambulance from reaching a hospital

Neugebauer told reporters in Berlin that "if anyone is responsible, it's certainly not Carola."

Supporters in Italy and Germany have pledged over 1.3 million euros ($1.48 million) for Sea-Watch in recent days.

Sea-Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete, center, from Germany, waves as she arrives in the Sicilian port of Porto Empedocle, escorted by Italian finance police, from Lampedusa, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2019. Rackete has been in custody since Saturday when she defied Italy's anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and port authorities by steering her Sea-Watch 3 ship to Lampedusa's dock so the 40 migrants the ship rescued on June 12 could disembark. (Pasquale Claudio Montana Lampo/ANSA via AP) The Associated Press

Sea-Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete is seen on board the vessel at sea in the Mediterranean, just off the coasts of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The captain of the humanitarian rescue ship says that Italian law enforcement officials have told them that a resolution is near for 42 migrants rescued at sea that Italyâs populist government has so far refused to allow to disembark. (ANSA/Matteo Guidelli via AP) The Associated Press

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