Engerer seeks answers from Brussels over MaltaToday report on Cham Wings

Cyrus Engerer has asked the European Commission to explain what it is doing about a Syrian private airline used by criminal groups to smuggle people into Libya.

The Labour MEP tabled the parliamentary questions following revelations by MaltaToday last Sunday that Cham Wings is being used to smuggle Bangladeshi migrants into Libya from where they are then assigned to boats for the dangerous crossing to Europe.

The newspaper’s exclusive report was based on intelligence compiled by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, on the criminal networks operating on the central Mediterranean migrant route.

“I asked the European Commission to immediately and officially provide an explanation of what it is doing about Cham Wings, which in the past were subject to blacklisting by the European Union and which were eventually removed from this blacklist, despite existing intelligence indicating that they are still operating close to migrant smuggling criminal groups,” Engerer said.

He said information from Frontex confirms that the number of Bangladeshi nationals crossing to Europe from Libya increased disproportionately and are now the third most common nationality crossing irregularly from Libya despite the geographic distance of their country of origin.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of such serious allegations, especially when we are seeing history repeating itself,” Engerer said.

He asked the European Commission what action it is taking against Cham Wings and whether it is aware of which criminal groups are working with this airline to smuggle these people.

Cham Wings was sanctioned by the EU following its involvement in ferrying migrants to Belarus in the summer of 2021 but sanctions were lifted in July last year. It appears the airline has now shifted its operations to the people smuggling network in the central Mediterranean.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told parliament last month that he raised questions with the European Commission over its stand on Cham Wings, having singled out the airline.

The European Commission is bound to give a written answer to the MEP’s questions within three weeks.