Frontex will be meeting today to discuss the new threat posed by Kalashnikov-wielding smugglers who approached rescue teams carrying out a migrant rescue operation off the Libyan coast demanding their boat back.

During a major operation last week, in which the Italian coastguard saved more than 2,000 migrants, four men with Kalashnikov rifles sped out from the Libyan shore and ordered the coastguard to return a boat that had been emptied of migrants.

Some of the gunmen then jumped on the boat and took it, according to Italy’s transport ministry.

“This is a new threat that requires reflection. We need to speak to member states and Italian authorities about how to handle this situation. There is a management board meeting [today] in which this will be discussed,” a Frontex spokeswoman told Times of Malta.

Read more on Times of Malta.