Countless people from Africa or the Middle East pay smugglers thousands of euros to come to Europe. The smuggling business is very lucrative – and it’s difficult to get hold of the people behind it.
The nine suspected smugglers arrested in Greece after the serious shipwreck are due to appear in court today after an investigating magistrate on Monday granted a request to postpone the hearing by 24 hours.
In Pakistan, too, people have now been arrested who are said to be connected to the shipwreck. But getting to the real backers is difficult.
Survivor Syrian describes events on the boat
The Syrian Hasan survived the boat accident in Greece. What he experienced during the days on the boat can be guessed from his testimony. It is in the trial against the nine suspected smugglers. A Greek newspaper printed the statement.
In it he describes, among other things, that only the suspected smugglers could move freely on the ship, while all other passengers had to sit on the floor. Food and water ran out after a few days. Inside the ship he could only breathe badly. He paid one of the men ten euros to be allowed on deck – that may have saved his life.
A suspected smuggler confessed
A man believed to have lost a relative in the accident was told his loved one had passed out five minutes before the ship sank. “They tried to wake him up. But then the ship sank. The lucky ones who survived, or at least whose bodies were found, were on deck. And everyone below decks didn’t make it out and sank with it.”
The nine suspected smugglers who were arrested in Greece were also among those rescued. Other survivors have identified her. One of the men has already admitted receiving money to do work on the ship during the crossing. The others deny all allegations. You have lawyers now.
Hauler speaks of a “good investment”
The Syrian Hasan stated that his father had paid the equivalent of 4,100 euros for his son’s passage to Italy. Others say they paid up to 6000 euros for a place on the boat.
The smuggler business is extremely lucrative and, above all, highly professional. A smuggler from Tunisia, whom the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” met, calls his business “an illegal travel agency”. He talks about it like a normal company, talks about customers, about supply and demand.
If he didn’t have enough money for new ships, other people would invest in his business: “You lend me 100,000 dinars and then get 120,000 from me back when the crossing is over. That’s a good investment,” he told the newspaper . In order to cover the illegal business, he also has a legal business in another industry.
Europol should help
The Greek authorities assume that the nine arrested men are part of a large smuggling ring. He is said to have organized up to 18 such trips from Libya to Italy in recent months.
The Greek authorities have now asked the European police authority Europol for help in catching those behind the scenes. It is believed that they are mainly based in Italy and Egypt. Pakistan has also arrested several people in this connection.
There are no alternatives to tugs
For Christopher Hein, Professor of Asylum and Migration at the Luiss University in Rome, it is clear that the only way to prevent further boat accidents on the Mediterranean and to stop the smugglers is a different EU migration policy. People need legal ways to come to Europe.
They should not feel compelled to place themselves in the hands of smugglers and pay thousands of euros to get to Europe from Africa or the Middle East. “There has to be a possibility on a scale that really represents an alternative for people. And unfortunately that doesn’t exist so far.”