A quarter of a million migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year. The European Union is trying to control the flow of illegal migration and has a Navel Force patrolling the seas along the coast of Libya, where smugglers traffic people to Europe.
The crew of ITS Garibaldi scan the waters for signs of people smuggling.
The sea looks calm, but this is an incredibly dangerous stretch of water.
The EU’s Naval Force, known as Operation Sophia, was set up last year to crack down on the smuggling networks in Libya that send people on the perilous journey.
So far 78 people suspected of human trafficking have been prosecuted in Italy since the force was launched. And more than 200 boats have been seized or destroyed.
Using the force's three planes and three helicopters the crew can spot suspicious behaviour in the waters.
"From our perspective it’s all the small skiffs or small boats that are around the scene of action,” said Lieutenant Alex Melchioretto, helicopter pilot, Operation Sophia.
In the past month Lieutenant Melchioretto has been involved in apprehending 6 suspected smugglers.
This footage shows the latest incident.
The two suspects on the small boat were spotted towing an inflatable boat with more than 100 people on board.
But these guys can only operate inside international waters. Which means any human trafficking, any smuggling, going on inside Libyan territory is out of their reach.
And that means the EU’s war on people smuggling has its limitations.
"Operating inside the territorial water of Libya (would) give us more possibility, definitely," said Rear Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, force commander, Operation Sophia.
"But so far we are not allowed by international law. To go inside the territorial water we need to have authorisation of the of Libya.”
That’s not going to happen. Libyan authorities have no appetite for inviting foreign troops into their territory.
And so as the EU fleet patrols the international waters off the Libyan coast, smugglers have changed their tactics, and the boats keep coming.
Around 80,000 people have crossed these waters so far this year. 3,000 died before they made it to land.
And even though search and rescue is not part of the operations mandate, it has become a big part of what they do.
"This is our focus, to look for the smugglers - to try to locate them, capture them, arrest them. But if there are lives in danger, then our first priority it to save lives,” said Captain Domingo Gomez-Pamo, chief of staff, Operation Sophia.
The EU is beefing up it’s efforts to crack down on human trafficking and will soon have support from NATO.
But smuggling is big business in Libya, and there is no shortage of people willing to risk their lives at sea to seek refuge in Europe.
