Migrants and the criminal organisations that exploit them have turned their attention to the Central Mediterranean route after the deployment of EU personnel to the Greek-Turkish border has rendered that path into Europe more secure, according to a senior official of the EU’s boarder agency.

Gil Arias Fernandes, the deputy director of Frontex, yesterday confirmed that Malta and Italy were now bearing the biggest brunt of illegal immigration into the EU after the pressure on the Greek-Turkish border subsided.

In the first three months of the year, particularly since the start of the Libyan conflict, the sea borders between Libya, Lampedusa and Malta have been wide open, he said. Read more: