The smugglers treated people as commodities, trading in their misery and demanding up to five thousand euros to transport them across the sea from Egypt to Crete.
The people would be held in outhouses on farmland and in caves on Crete until money reached the people smugglers in Egypt. After, they would be transported to Italy on rickety boats. It's believed the organized crime gang is responsible for the recent rescue of 60 migrants off the coast of Crete.
READ MORE: Smuggling Gang Who Kept People in Caves on Crete Jailed
"These criminal gangs treat migrants as a commodity to be profited out of — they don't care about keeping them in horrendous conditions or using completely unsuitable or unseaworthy vessels to move them hundreds of miles across the sea," Chris Hogben, head of the UK's National Crime Agency Invigor taskforce said.
Chris Hogben, head of Invigor taskforce: “These criminal gangs treat migrants as a commodity to be profited out of – they don’t care about keeping them in horrendous conditions or using completely unsuitable or unseaworthy vessels to move them hundreds of miles across the sea." https://t.co/Yr7PAGjD9U
— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) September 5, 2018
Immigration and border force police officers carried out a series of raids in Heraklion and Chania on Crete, arresing six men from Greece, Syria and Iraq.
The men are suspected of arranging the accommodation and transportation of migrants as well as providing them with false travel documentation. They all face prosecution in a Greek court.
NCA officers from the Invigor organised immigration crime taskforce have worked with @hellenicpolice and @HCoastGuard to bring down a people smuggling network bringing migrants across the Mediterranean and into Europe via #Crete. Full story: https://t.co/fD8iVvvD8a @ukingreece pic.twitter.com/6CmSCLabuh
— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) September 5, 2018
The number of migrants arriving in Spain has increased by 130 percent in the first seven months of 2018 compared to last year, according to a report published by the United Nations refugee agency. Arrivals increased by 88 percent in Greece but dropped by 81 percent in Italy during the same period.
The start of 2018 has been the deadliest to date with 1,095 people dying on route to the Mediterranean, predominantly from Libya to Italy and accounting for one death for every 18 people who make it alive.
UNHCR;s new paper on refugee returns to Libya is meticulously researched (just look at the length of the footnotes!
— Jeff Crisp (@JFCrisp) September 4, 2018
But on social media, where is the sense of outrage on the EU's role in this sorry process?
READ MORE: French and Italian Policies Escalating Crisis in Libya — Scholar
