A new report has revealed that people smugglers in the Mediterranean may be making as much as £400,000 for every ship that crosses the sea to Europe.
The people smuggling business in North Africa may be more lucrative than many have assumed as migrants are paying large sums to climb aboard boats headed for Europe, a new report has found. Some are paying around £1,700 to make the voyage on old wooden boats packed with more than 250 people people the Daily Express reports.
The information comes from Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms who say that migrants are so desperate to reach Europe that they are selling everything they have to raise the large funds needed.
The report also highlights some of the dangers migrants face as they attempt the journey.
A 31-year-old Eritrean woman rescued in the Mediterranean said that she became pregnant after being raped by police in Sudan. “I want to go to Switzerland with my family. I want to have a good life. Now I have a baby which is not my husband’s.”
A 25-year-old Nigerian named Paul said he had seen the slave markets, which had recently popped up in Libya for himself. “If you are African there are people there who will kidnap you. Your life is worth nothing. They can steal everything you have. Women are forced into prostitution. They force them, they beat them, they injure them,” he said.
Many people smugglers have been caught by various authorities and some have revealed grotesque practices. One smuggler, Eritrean Medhanie Yehdego Mered, who was caught by Italian police was said to have had evidence of organ harvesting and cannibalism on his mobile phone.
Other reports have stated that the Islamic State terror group have also muscled their way into the people smuggling business and have used it to raise funds after their oil trade was hampered by airstrikes.
The radical terror group has offered to allow migrants to travel on the boats for free if they sign up as fighters and carry out attacks in Europe. Underage asylum seekers are thought to be particularly vulnerable to the offer from the terror group.
Despite the increase in the number of migrants heading to Europe, including more and more drownings at sea, the European Union has yet to fully put a stop to the flow of migrants.
Some, including the European Union’s border agency Frontex, have said that the NGOs rescuing migrants only a few miles off the Libyan coast are only encouraging further migration and others like Italian prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro have accused the NGOs of directly working with the people smugglers.
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