Extradition of a Wrong Man in Peoples Smuggling

An Eritrean man authorities said is Mr Mered was held in Sudan in May and flown to Rome on Tuesday.

He was named by friends as Mered Tesfamariam.

Friends of a man extradited to Italy on Tuesday on people smuggling charges say police have the wrong man.

Prosecutors believe Mered Medhanie, known as The General, is at the heart of the operation to smuggle migrants from Africa to Europe.

But the man’s friends told the BBC there had been a case of mistaken identity and he was innocent.

A spokesman for Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), that was involved in the operation, told the Press Association they were “liaising with our partners”.

It added: “This is a complex multi-partner operation and it is too early to speculate about these claims.”