Italy revokes over 3,000 applications from non-EU workers in smuggling crackdown

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police said on Thursday they had blocked and revoked 3,339 applications for the arrival of non-EU workers in Italy as part of an investigation into the smuggling of illegal immigrants by organised crime.

The alleged false requests to hire non-EU labourers were submitted by 142 different Italian companies in the agriculture, construction, and home care sectors, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza police said in a joint statement.

According to an investigation by anti-Mafia prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno, the companies were being used by several local criminal groups - from which one million euros ($1.05 million) in cash was already seized in July - to smuggle non-EU migrants into Italy.

Police measures allow the 29 Italian provinces involved in the investigation to block issuing current permits and revoking those that had already been granted, the statement said.

Italy's interior minister last month said the Group of Seven (G7) rich democracies will to set up specialised police units aimed at investigating migrant trafficking in order to tackle irregular flows.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, which holds the G7 rotating presidency this year, has sought cooperation with the European Union and African governments to crack down on human traffickers.

Meloni last year signed a deal with Albania to build reception camps there, but the rulings taken so far by the Italian courts have frustrated the government's efforts to pursue its flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals.

($1 = 0.9484 euros)

(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Angus MacSwan)