Italian police on Tuesday arrested 41 people suspected of being part of a transnational organization involving circus owners that helped migrants gain illegal entry to Italy, local report said.

In a press conference held in Palermo, the capital city of Sicily, seen as a gateway into Europe by thousands of migrants travelling by sea, investigators said the organization brought more than 500 migrants to Italy mainly from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Renowned circus owners Lino and Sandra Orfei, Darvin Cristiani, and Alvaro Bizzarri were among those involved in the operation, which was code-named "Golden Circus."

They allegedly hired under false pretenses circus workers with falsified authorizations obtained through the help of corrupt Sicilian local officials.

According to investigators, each migrant paid up to 15,000 euros (about 16,050 U.S. dollars) for entry to Italy, of which up to 3,000 euros went to the circus entrepreneurs. The total estimated earnings for the business amounted to around 7 million euros, investigators said.

"The organization had a perfect and well-structured division of tasks, including those with operative functions and those who acted as intermediaries," Palermo public prosecutor Leonardo Agueci explained to journalists at a press conference.

Meanwhile, illegal immigration to Sicily via the Mediterranean Sea from Libyan coasts has become an emergency in Italy of late, as unprecedented flows of migrants from troubled African and Middle Eastern countries arrive in great numbers. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars) Endit

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