Italian police have uncovered an immigrant smuggling operation which used travel agencies to allow hundreds of illegal immigrants from the Balkans to enter Italy, local media reported on Monday.

Three travel agencies operating out of Kosovo are suspected of organizing bus tours for Kosovars and Albanians who hold false tourist visas to enter Italy and stay there illegally, the report said.

A total of 12 warrants have been issued so far by prosecutors in Bari, a city of southeast Italy on the Adriatic Sea coast. These include eight arrest warrants, three house arrest orders and one order not to leave town.

The warrants were issued against 11 Kosovars and Albanians and an Italian police inspector at the office for foreigners in Treviso.

Another 13 people, 12 Kosovars and an Italian, were notified that they were under investigation and might face charges, the report said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2006)