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The European Union has launched a massive two-week police crackdown on irregular migrants across the 26-country Schengen free-movement area, writes EUobserver.
Citing a leaked memo, the website reports that “thousands of police officers” will “seize and possibly deport people without proper documents” at border crossings, train stations and bus depots.
According to the site, the Italian EU presidency designed the operation, codenamed Mos Maiorum (literally “Ancestral Customs”), as “an intelligence gathering exercise” —
Details such as age, nationality, date of birth, place and time of interception, means of transport, migrant routes and asylum applications, if any, will be included. [...] Police will also try to obtain information on how much money a migrant has paid to enter the EU, their final point of destination, and the names of people who may have helped them along the way.
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EUobserver claims “one unnamed Schengen country has refused to participate” in the operation.
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