The EU is beginning a new operation to intercept boats smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean, according to BBC News.

Under Operation Sophia, naval vessels will be able to board, search, seize and divert vessels suspected of being used for human trafficking. Until now the EU has focused on surveillance and rescue operations.

So far this year, more than 130,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe from the north African coast. More than 2,700 have drowned.

The migrant crisis is expected to be one of the issues raised when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande make a rare joint address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, October 7.

The only previous such address was in 1989 with then French President Francois Mitterrand and the German leader Helmut Kohl.

The huge numbers of migrants reaching Europe have led to a crisis within the EU, with member states at odds on how to deal with the influx.

The deadliest voyages are from Libya to Italy, although more migrants are now taking the Turkey-Greece route.

The EU launched the first phase of its operation, called EUNavfor Med, in June, using naval surveillance to detect smugglers' boats and monitor trafficking patterns from Libya towards Italy and Malta.