Criminal gangs are abusing Italy's Mare Nostrum migrants rescue mission, Gil Arias-Fernandez, executive director of EU border agency Frontex has admitted.

Speaking at meeting of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, he said that while he had nothing but praise for the Italian operation, it was a fact that traffickers were finding it easier to do their business knowing that irregular migrants were picked up by Italian rescue boats when they left the Libyan coast.

“Since Mare Nostrum started, the number of detections of irregular immigrants increased drastically,” Mr Arias-Fernandez told MEPs.

“Criminals, of course, know about Mare Nostrum and so they are sending more people on less seaworthy vessels, supplying them with less fuel and food. Their operation has become cheaper,” he said. The number of voyages had increased too, he noted.

The result, he added, was that migrants faced higher risks if the Italian authorities did not make it in time to save them.

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Migrants take shelter from the sun before disembarking an Italian coast guard ship at Augusta.