Five people accused of smuggling migrants into western Europe from Turkey on luxury private jets have been arrested in Italy and Belgium.

The migrants each paid up to 10,000 euros (£8,690) for a spot on the planes and were carrying fake diplomatic passports, according to authorities.

The suspected smugglers had fraudulently booked the flights for diplomats, said Costantino Scudieri, the police chief in the Italian city of Bari.

At least five flights happened between October and December 2020 to send the migrants to five different countries – Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Belgium, investigators claimed.

The journeys included one in November last year which landed in Bari.

The migrants were mostly Kurds or Iraqi citizens who had counterfeit diplomatic ID documents from St Kitts and Nevis.

Flight plans suggested the Caribbean nation was the final destination after layovers in Europe, said officials.

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Once they landed in Europe, the migrants revealed their real nationalities and said they were seeking asylum.

An Egyptian pilot, who lives in Brussels, had allegedly put together the smuggling operation.

He was arrested on Wednesday in the Belgian capital along with a Tunisian woman.

Two of the pilot’s brothers were also detained in Rome with an Italian suspect.

However, two suspects are still on the run in Italy and Belgium.

Belgium police have seized two private jets worth 426,000 euros (£370,000) in the operation which was co-ordinated by Europol with the help of US Homeland Security.

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