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Karl Schembri investigates the underground Chinese trafficking business that is claiming the lives of migrants crossing by power boats to Sicily in the hands of ruthless Maltese criminals
In the dead of night, on extremely powerful speedboats, in the hands of cold-blooded human traffickers, a new kind of immigrant is crossing the Malta-Sicily channel in what is the last clandestine lag of a long route starting from far off China.
 In contrast with African and Arab migrants, the Chinese have a carefully planned route travelled legally until Malta, thanks to easy visa procedures and expensive packages which make it possible to arrive here regularly by air.
Chinese agencies have been making a whole business out of it. Chinese students here with regular visas speak of travel agencies in their home country advertising Malta as the new European destination within the EU bloc “where visas are never a problem” and where job opportunities abound.
Even worse, they advertise Malta as the stepping stone to the European mainland, from where visas to other countries are easy to get.
The Chinese are willing to pay anything to get here, on this new route in their potentially fatal itinerary. Back in the nineties, Chinese immigrants hailing mostly from the regions of Zhejiang and Fujian travelled by train or by air to Moscow as their starting point for new destinations. They used to travel to Kiev – a stepping stone to Romania and Hungary, from where they could head towards Croatia or Slovenia smuggled on trucks and trailers. They would then disperse into the European mainland, with some travelling to Italy by car or on boats.
Last week’s tragedy, together with previous arrivals of Chinese boat people on Sicilian shores, seems to indicate that the Asians have changed their clandestine migration route, utilising Malta as their launching pad into Europe.
From survivors’ accounts and autopsies on the corpses of several Chinese immigrants found on Sicilian shores since last November, the Maltese traffickers are ruthless and violent. Armed with firearms, they force immigrants to jump off their boats miles away from the Sicilian shores to avert the Italians’ surveillance. Those who disobey are brutally beaten with pistols or rifle butts, some even to death: “an example” to all those still on board of the fate that awaits protestors.
Back in China, they pay thousands of liri in advance, mainly to cover tuition fees and accommodation. Families from the region of Fujian are known to sell their family treasures to send their children abroad.
“There’s a whole craze which has been going on for years there to send their sons and daughters travelling outside China, and which has found Malta as an alternative option,” one Chinese tourist said.
“All you have to do is get in touch with an agent, who will recommend Malta as the best option available. Since Malta joined Europe, they promise easy travel to the European mainland, that visas from here to other EU countries are very easy to get, and that there are also jobs available on the island. They will get you in touch with an English language school here, with a host family or apartment, and then help you through the visa process with the embassy.”
All this is done under the impression that a lot of work is involved for the Chinese agencies.
“They give you the impression they are giving you this really special treatment,” a Chinese resident here said. “Some of the agencies also promise you to get visas faster if you pay more.”
Other students here referred to the apparent closeness between the Maltese embassy and some of the Chinese agencies that emerged in the course of their interviews with Consul Joseph Pirotta – currently under police investigations for allegedly issuing irregular visas from his office in the Sanlintun Diplomatic Building, Beijing.
Only when they reach here, however, they realise that the agencies’ promises were all lies. With no possibility of getting work permits, they end up working illegally. The Italian embassy adopts a zero policy for these Chinese students, leaving them with only the clandestine sea route as an option to leave from here days after their arrival.
Speaking to Language Travel Magazine last December – a specialised foreign business publication – Andrew Grech of Geos Language Centre in Sliema shed some light about foreign students coming here.
“The majority of our bookings came as usual from the Chinese and Russian markets, however, we have felt an increase in almost all sectors, particularly the Spanish and Colombian markets,” Grech said.
Marika Fenech from Inlingua School of Languages in Sliema had predicted the influx of Chinese students when speaking to the same publication: “China is a massive market that shows a lot of interest in Malta and EU countries – there will be big developments here,” Fenech said.
According to Grech, EU accession made it more problematic for non-EU nationals to be granted residence permits.
“Visas were given out more freely before we joined the EU,” he told Language Travel Magazine. “I suppose the authorities are worried that Malta may become an entry point for people wishing to illegally enter other European countries whose visa granting procedures are tighter.”
The number of Chinese on the islands remains a closely guarded secret and it is clear Government does not want to give any fodder to the Italians just in the wake of a diplomatic standoff. Malta is meanwhile refusing to accept 46 migrants who landed in Sicily in the last weeks.
While the government and police insist on getting “concrete proof” that immigrants left from Malta, the evidence is there for all those who want to see it.
A lighter with a Maltese cross found on one of the immigrants, mobile telephone messages from Malta, and their own testimony are not enough proof for Police Commissioner John Rizzo.
“Even I have a keychain from Australia although I never went there,” Rizzo said in his press briefing last Wednesday.
But English language schools here know well enough about their “missing” students, about those Chinese individuals who only turn up for the first couple of lessons of their language course and are never to be seen again.
Killed upon arrival
Last week’s tragedy is by no means the only one to claim the lives of Chinese immigrants, mostly women, on the island of Sicily.
On 29 November last year, a Chinese woman in her twenties was found dead on a beach in Siracusa. Her trousers dirtied with sand, she was hit on her head a few hours before she was found, according to the autopsy.
A week later, another woman was found drifting 40km off Siracusa. According to the inquiring magistrates, she was probably killed on the same day as the previous victim and carried away by the currents.
On 8 December, the corpse of another woman in her twenties with a broken neck and a maimed face was found in Vizzini, Catania.
Also in December, another two Chinese nationals were found dead on the shores of Donnalucata, Ragusa.
All the women, found without documents but of clear Chinese origin, had similar wounds. According to the inquiring magistrates, they were killed in other different areas from the places where they were found. Investigators are looking into the possibility of the involvement of the Chinese and Sicilian mafia and of Maltese power boat operators.
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