‘Travel light’, human traffickers advise refugees

Thousands of people seeking a better future risk their lives on a daily basis and while the EU talks about breaking up human trafficking networks, asylum seekers, including children, are reaching Europe at great risk.

MaltaToday has obtained information on the elusive smugglers, including phone numbers, photographs and instructions on what asylum seekers should do to survive at sea and how they can enter several European countries.

Some smugglers go to great lengths in trying to reassure people seeking refuge in Europe that the voyages are safe and that entry is guaranteed.

A Facebook page called Abu Nour for Travel advises prospective sea travellers to carry a “medium sized bag of good quality which can be carried on your back”.

The page also provides a list of “essentials”, such as two pairs of underwear and two sets of clothes, including one clean set “so you can wear it when you enter the cities”.

Other essential items include a toothbrush and toothpaste, nail clippers, a comb, trainers, a torch, aspirin and other medicines to deal with seasickness, flu and infections.

Abu Nour’s last bit of advice is that “the most important thing is keeping medium weight because you will be carrying it for long distances”.

In a clear attempt to clear people’s fears, other Facebook pages show videos of refugees, mostly Syrians successfully reaching Greece on dinghies while others even  provide the coordinates of rescue ships.

Despite the ease in obtaining information on how to get into Europe on Facebook and other social media sites, the EU has been unable to break up the sophisticated networks of human traffickers.

The lack of success in tracing and taking action against the masterminds of the trafficking networks could be down to the lack of co-operation by authorities in Libya, Turkey and other countries but the EU’s intransigence over the opening of over the opening of legal channels to reach Europe is equally responsible for the daily tragedies happening on the shores of the Mediterranean and continental countries. In May, the European Union agreed to create a naval operation, dubbed EUNAVFOR Med, to identify, capture, and destroy boats used by human smugglers in the Mediterranean.

However, not only have these plans been put on hold as the EU waits for international clearance but record numbers of refugees have attempted to reach Europe this year.

At the same time, the International Organisation for Migration has this week said that deaths among refugees attempting to reach Europe by sea in 2015 now total 2,373.

Another Facebook page accessed by MaltaToday informs refugees what they are to expect if they intend to travel to Italy by boat from Libya.

“Due to the number of questions relating to travel to Italy, I will explain what happens in depth starting from the beach until you reach Italy,” the administrator called Abu Lina writes.

“The boat leaves the shore towards Italy, the boat has a Thuraya satellite phone that calls the Italian coast guard to give them boat coordinates, after that planes owned by the European Union hover over the boat, takes pictures and gives details to the nearest shop or vessel to head towards the boat. Until the ship arrives it’s imperative that all passengers keep calm and avoid rushing”.

Writing in Arabic, Abu Lina also explains that boarding priority will be given to families and urges people to “please keep calm so the ship can take you on board easily and transfer you to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where all tests will be done, then you are taken to the city of Milano for accommodation, where they will give you all the assistance you need, i.e water, food, sleep, after that you leave to the place you want from Milano by train, or car...wishing all safe immigration.”

Smuggler provide a map showing the coordinates of the European Red Cross rescue vessel

On 24 June, Abu Lina also posted a map accompanied by a caption saying “the big red dot in the middle of the sea is the European Red Cross ship, which provides assistance to refugees, and transports them to Italy directly, after being given permits to leave Italian soil legally”.

Most Facebook pages include a price list for different destinations, accompanied by messages such as “whoever is fed up should leave, people are tired from their situation, Europe welcomes you”.

The deceit and incorrect information however does not stop there, with refugees posting photos of imposters, to show that they were duped.

Mohammed Al Abw was named and shamed as conman who duped refugees

In a post accompanied by photos on a Facebook page called Human Sea Migration Ahmed Mared wrote, “please be aware of the con Mohammed Al Abw, nicknamed Abu Jasim. We were a group who wanted to travel two months ago with him, he took $5,000 from each person for a trip from Mersin (Turkey) to Italy but the low life conned us. We never saw his face again. Currently he is in Anatolia working in smuggling to Greece. Be careful from working with him.”

Prices for the trips vary from one page to the other. For instance Abu Lina’s page provides travel advice from Libya to Italy during the month of August, including “Sudan – Libya  - Italy: $2,000, Tunisia – Libya – Italy: $1,500, Turkey to Libya (by plane including visa, air ticket and accommodation in Libya) to Italy $3,800.”

Among the various messages and posts advertising the trips, the vast majority are aimed at Syrian refugees who are being granted entry to Europe, given the deadly civil war which has decimated the entire Middle eastern nation.

One Facebook page advertises a Syrian “agent” in Damascus who, the post claims, can provide “European passports, European identity cards and European residency” after smuggling refugees by land into Greece.

This week Germany announced that it will allow Syrian refugees to stay and apply for asylum instead of deporting them back to their country of arrival.

Berlin decided to suspend the Dublin Regulation, which stipulates that refugees can stay only in the first European country of arrival until their asylum claims are processed.

This rule places an unequal burden on Southern European countries like Greece, Italy and Malta which are among the easiest to reach by boat from across the Mediterranean.

Both Italy and Greece have faced unprecedented levels of migrant inflow this year and under the new policy, even if the refugees first arrive in Greece or Italy but travel northwards to Germany, they will not be deported back to their first country of contact.

How to enter Europe

On a thread discussing ways on how people can enter countries such as Italy, Finland, Germany and Hungary, a number of Tunisian and Libyan nationals shared ideas on how they can dupe European authorities by burning their fingertips is these have already been registered in previous attempts to enter Italy.

Other Facebook pages give lengthy and detailed guidance on how to apply for asylum. The soundest piece of advice in the long list of posts says “if you have been fingerprinted in any country don’t lie. The European Union will know. Being honest will facilitate matters.”