Smugglers use flights from Damasacus to Benghazi to lure migrants into Europe, report

Hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants are being smuggled aboard charter flights into Libya where they get onto boats to reach Europe, according to MaltaToday.

Citing intelligence reports, MaltaToday stated that “criminal groups are charging migrants €1,500 each for the transfer between Damascus in Syria and Benghazi in Libya, using flights operated by Syrian airline Cham Wings.”

“A €500 ‘administration fee’ is also levied, which is probably the money made by the criminal organisations off each smuggled person,” reports the Maltese newspaper.

“Migrants are given the flight tickets at the airport and these can only be bought in cash from a particular travel agency. Intelligence suggests that smugglers take the migrants’ passports and book the flights on their behalf. ”

On 12 March, one such boat capsized in bad weather around 177km northwest of Benghazi with 47 people on board.

In the incident, 30 people went missing and 17 were rescued by the Italian coastguard after an initial attempt by a merchant vessel failed due to the bad weather.

MaltaToday reported that the the incident prompted Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri to raise the issue in parliament three days later.

“Camilleri spoke about the chartered flights operated by Cham Wings without giving much detail. He also informed the House that Malta wrote to the European Commission to take action against the airline, which was facilitating people smuggling,” MaltaToday reports.

“The intelligence suggests the air link to Benghazi is also used for Syrian nationals, although both nationalities are smuggled separately,” stated the newspaper.

Sources privy to the smuggling network have told MaltaToday that once in Libya, Bangladeshi and Syrians are paying higher rates than other nationalities.

“This is leading criminal groups to prefer Bangladeshi and Syrian migrants over other nationalities on the Libyan corridor,” they said.

According to MaltaToday, these information come from “intelligence gathered by Frontex, the European border agency, and Italian and Maltese police debriefing sessions with rescued migrants.”

“A report giving details of this smuggling network was presented to the European Commission and made available to EU home affairs ministers last year.”