(MENAFN- Arab News) NICOSIA Cyprus: Four Syrians are being held in Cyprus police custody on suspicion of trafficking 345 mostly Syrian refugees who were rescued from a distressed fishing trawler off the island last week authorities said Monday.

The four appeared before a Nicosia district court over the weekend where they were remanded in police custody for eight days on suspicion of people trafficking and trafficking migrants.

In custody are the 58-year-old captain of the trawler his 26-year-old assistant the 34-year-old boat mechanic and the 20-year-old son of the person believed to have organized the journey.

A 40-year-old Syrian man is also being sought and Cyprus police have alerted Interpol and Europol about the alleged ringleader of a trafficking network.

He was fingered by some of the rescued refugees as organizing the trip in which each migrant paid US$6000 US$3000 for every child to be taken to Italy the court heard.

Police believe the network illegally ferried Syrian migrants to Greece and Italy for cash.

On Thursday a cruise ship answered a distress signal from the trawler some 50 nautical miles off Cyprus and rescued all those on board.

The government said it would move the refugees from a reception center outside the capital Nicosia to a better equipped facility at Kofinou near the southern coastal town of Larnaca.

The island of Cyprus lies about 100 kilometers off the coast of Syria but has not seen a major influx of refugees from the more than three-year-old conflict.

There has been a spate of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean in recent months involving migrants trying to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says more than 2500 people have drowned or been reported lost at sea this year trying to make the crossing.