"Migration is going to force us to deal with these international
issues… We need to focus on Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, Syria. It may
sound naive, but it's the only way to stop the influx… We'll never
stop this just by closing the doors. I've talked to dozens of
migrants, and these people are willing to die to get into Europe."
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32707346
The Facebook smugglers selling the dream of Europe
By Daniel Adamson and Mamdouh Akbiek
BBC World Service
13 May 2015
>From the sectionMagazine
In today's Magazine
The country that blends endangered frogs
A very unofficial war artist
Uganda’s Tarantino and his $200 action movies
Trounced by a brain-training octogenarian
Across the Mediterranean, people smugglers are advertising their
services on Facebook, promising safe passage to migrants desperate to
reach Europe. Their pages offer a glimpse into a smuggling network
that spans three continents, generates hundreds of millions of
dollars, and has become, in effect, an alternative asylum service for
the EU.
"With the beginning of the new season we have a range of journeys on
offer. Turkey Libya Italy, $3,800. Algeria Libya Italy, $2,500. Sudan
Libya Italy, $2,500… The boats are all wood… If you have questions,
contact me on Viber or WhatsApp."
This is not an ad from a travel brochure. It's a Facebook update
posted by a people smuggler, Abdul Aziz, from the Libyan port of
Zuwara on 21 April. Abdul Aziz is just one of hundreds of smugglers
now using social media to promote their services to migrants and
refugees trying to reach Europe.
Abdul Aziz's Facebook page detailing his prices
Their pages advertise everything from fake documents to safe passage
by land, air, or sea. Many are illustrated with photos of luxury
cruise liners or crisp new passports, and include package deals -
"Kids go free" is a popular offer - as well as glowing testimonies
that purport to be from migrants who have made the journey.
But behind the glib promises and the slick online communications is a
ruthless real-world web of smugglers and con men who thrive on the
vulnerability of the migrants.
This web extends not only across the Mediterranean and the Middle East
but deep into sub-Saharan Africa. Abdul Aziz alone claims to have
agents in "almost every Arab state" and says "if people can't get here
to Libya, I have legal and illegal ways to get them into the country."
This Facebook page offers British visas to Syrians: "Single entry 90
days USD $7,000... Pay when you collect the passport with the visa.
For serious people only."
The network that links a boat-runner like Abdul Aziz to a passport
forger in Istanbul or a truck driver in Eritrea is an underground,
ever-shifting configuration of personal contacts, criminal gangs, and
one-off business deals that runs across national borders and is almost
impossible to police.
The adaptability of this system only makes it more efficient: last
year some 220,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean, most leaving
Libya in smugglers' boats before being rescued at sea by the Italian
coastguard or navy. Since the start of 2015, another 35,000 have
reached Italy. More than 1,800 have drowned in the attempt.
There is nothing new in this. African migrants have been sailing from
Zuwara for at least 30 years. But the proliferation of Arabic-language
smuggling pages on Facebook reflects a surge in demand from Syrian and
other Arab migrants since the uprisings of 2011, as well as a growing
confidence among the smugglers themselves, many of whom post their
mobile phone numbers online or field enquiries via online messaging
apps.
Abdul Aziz, who spoke to the BBC via Skype, said that between 10 and
20 people contact him through his Facebook page every day. "Until 2012
we didn't use social media at all," he said. "Now, it accounts for
between 30% and 40% of my business."
The collapse of the Libyan state has also emboldened the smugglers,
allowing them to promote themselves online without fear of arrest.
Abdul Aziz laughed at the suggestion that his Facebook page might
attract the attention of the authorities. "What authorities? There
aren't any authorities. There isn't even a regime. There's nothing."
Zuwara in Libya, where Abdul Aziz is based
Giampaolo Musumeci, an Italian journalist who has written a book about
North Africa's smuggling gangs, sees their growing social media
presence as "part of the marketing operation for the biggest illegal
travel company in the world."
According to Musumeci, this "company" made something between 300m and
600m euros (£235m-£470m; $215m-$430m) last year from those trying to
get into Europe, and now constitutes an unofficial asylum service for
people whose lives have been derailed by poverty, chaos, and war.
"What I'm selling," a Pakistani smuggler in Italy told Musumeci, "is
the dream of Europe."
For many of those who arrived in the EU last year, it's a dream that
could not be realized through legal channels.
The more you close the borders the more money we're going to
makePeople smuggler, Egypt
Take Ayham al Faris, a Syrian translator and anti-Assad campaigner who
fled his country in fear for his life in October 2011. Before he left,
Ayham tried to apply for a visa from the French and Austrian embassies
in Damascus. He got nowhere. Later, after he had reached Turkey, Ayham
approached the German, Australian, and Bosnian embassies with the same
request. "They didn't even say, 'We don't have programmes for you, we
can't give you a visa now,' or something like that… They just say,
'Send us an email,' but when I send them my email they just throw it
away."
Faced with this wall of bureaucratic indifference, Ayham made his own
way into Greece, where he used Facebook to contact a Syrian smuggler
called Hafez. "He said he can take me wherever I want, no problem,
it's easy for him. The most important thing is that you have your
money in your pocket."
Despite the sales patter, Hafez failed to get Ayham out of Greece.
Eventually, Ayham bought a fake passport from another smuggler and, at
the 11th attempt, got on a flight to Paris. He has now been granted
asylum in the Netherlands.
It's a case that illustrates the crux of the problem: people smugglers
are responding to a demand for asylum that Europe's politicians are
unwilling to meet. As long as this situation persists, says Musumeci,
the smugglers will always find a way into the fortress.
"They're thinking about how to get into Europe 24 hours a day… They
communicate. They stay in touch. They change routes… one of these guys
told me, "We study Europe, we study the laws, and the more you close
the borders the more money we're going to make.'"
New EU proposals to distribute migrants across member states and break
up clandestine networks might help to reduce people smuggling within
Europe. But Musumeci says it will do nothing to stop the boats coming
across the Mediterranean. Dealing with that, he argues, will require a
whole new level of engagement with the political turmoil in parts of
Africa and the Middle East.
"Migration is going to force us to deal with these international
issues… We need to focus on Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, Syria. It may
sound naive, but it's the only way to stop the influx… We'll never
stop this just by closing the doors. I've talked to dozens of
migrants, and these people are willing to die to get into Europe."
Despite the obvious difficulties, European countries are still trying
to solve the problem at the level of policing. Europol, the EU's law
enforcement agency, recently launched an intelligence program, JOT
Mare, which is supposed to disrupt or dismantle the smuggling networks
that are bringing so many migrants across the Mediterranean.
A spokesperson for Europol confirmed that their agents will look at
the online presence of the smugglers: "JOT Mare is focussing on all
modi operandi used by facilitators of irregular migration in the
Mediterranean Sea, including the use of social media."
He conceded, though, that "Europol has no operational cooperation
agreement with Libya" - the point of departure for the vast majority
of migrants.
In Zuwara, Abdul Aziz hadn't heard of JOT Mare, but didn't sound too
worried. "It's just words on paper. I'm not afraid, because it's
meaningless. How are they going to follow me? Are they going to come
to Libya? If they try, it would be considered an invasion. Are they
going to catch me outside Libya? I don't go outside Libya. And if I do
go, they won't know about it."
Facebook: a window into the people smuggling business
"For travel advice and reaching Europe from Istanbul, contact us via
Skype. Travel safely from Ataturk Airport in Istanbul direct to
Europe, England, Canada, Australia, America, Libya and Egypt.""The big
red dot in the middle of the sea is a European Red Cross ship which
helps refugees and takes them directly to Italy, after giving them
permission to leave Italy legally.""To everyone asking about the way
and the price. Travelling straight to Europe by plane costs between
4,000 and 8,000 euros. If you only want a passport and pay for the
plane ticket yourself, and you take the consequences, then the price
is 4,000 euro for a 100% genuine passport belonging to someone who
looks like you. But if you want to pay after arriving in Europe, the
price is 8,000 euro and we will pay for everything and take all the
risk. Just send your picture and your number via Facebook message so
we can find a passport belonging to someone who looks like you, and
then we will call you.""For those wishing to travel to Europe: we have
a ship carrying grain, 60m long, departing from Turkey to Italy. The
journey takes between four and six days. Food and drinks are
available."
Received on Wed May 13 2015 - 22:35:26 EDT