Brussels, 16/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - Denis Pajaud, head of the French 'Office Central de Repression de l'Immigration Irreguliere et de l'Emploir des Etrangers Sans Titre (OCRIEST) said that the EU's Europol and Eurojust had laid the foundations for the recent coordinated action in 5 countries against a major people smuggling network, the biggest ever joint police raid against illegal immigration in Europe. In total 53 suspects were arrested, allegedly part of a network stretching from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe. For the first time, France, the UK, Italy, Greece and Turkey took part in an operation, code-named 'Pachtou', against an international criminal network responsible for facilitating the illegal entry of immigrants via Calais into the UK (the main destination country). Some 400 police officers were involved in the raids. 22 of the 53 arrests were made in France, 18 in Italy, 7 in the UK, 3 in Turkey and 3 in Greece. The European Arrest Warrant was used to arrest the suspects and they may be handed over to the French legal system within twenty-one days (an exceptionally fast period of time). At a joint press conference on Thursday with English and Italian police, Paris-based public prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, said it had been the biggest common operation ever carried out internationally and the fact that five countries had taken part at the same time was also a first at EU level.