Thread: Nine out of ten migrants arriving in EU last year were brought in by people smugglers

Terror groups 'using migrant routes': Warning of 'increased risk' after Interpol report says extremists are making 'opportunistic use' of smuggling networks and 800,000 people are waiting to flee Libya

Europol report showed the criminals' turnover could even total up to £5bn

They laundered cash across borders and ran proceeds through businesses

The report also identified 250 smuggling 'hotspots' along migrant routes

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 14:22 GMT, 17 May 2016 | UPDATED: 06:48 GMT, 18 May 2016

Europe faces an ‘increased risk’ from terrorists due to the migrant crisis, Interpol warned yesterday.

The international crime-fighting agency said migrant numbers are likely to top the 1 million who entered Europe last year, despite desperate efforts by the EU, adding extremist groups were making ‘opportunistic use of migrant smuggling networks’.

The report found criminal gangs made £4 billion from smuggling migrants into Europe last year and will continue to thrive, with 800,000 migrants in Libya alone now ‘waiting to travel to the EU’.



A new joint Interpol and Europol report shows nine out of 10 migrants who entered the EU last year relied on
people smuggling networks. Pictured is a group of refugees on a boat in April this year


It comes as French police said yesterday they had broken up a smuggling network using yachts to bring migrants to Britain after finding seven Ukrainians hidden on a boat on the coast of Brittany in France. Two skippers and three suspected smugglers were detained on Friday.

Interpol’s report was jointly written with the Europol crime agency, whose director Rob Wainwright said another attack inspired by Islamic State is ‘almost certain’.

Nine out of 10 migrants who entered the EU in 2015 relied on people smuggling networks according to the report.

The overwhelming majority relying on 'facilitation services' from criminals working together along the routes, and most paid £2,300-£5,000.

To launder the money and integrate it into the legitimate economy, couriers carried large amounts of cash over borders, and smugglers ran their proceeds through car dealerships, grocery stores, restaurants or transport companies.

The main organisers came from the same countries as the migrants, but often had EU residence permits or passports.

'The basic structure of migrant smuggling networks includes leaders who coordinate activities along a given route, organisers who manage activities locally through personal contacts, and opportunistic low-level facilitators who mostly assist organisers and may assist in recruitment activities,' the report said.

Corrupt officials may let vehicles through border checks or release ships for bribes, as there was so much money in the trafficking trade.

About 250 smuggling 'hotspots', often at railway stations, airports or coach stations, had been identified along the routes - 170 inside the EU and 80 outside.

The report's authors found no evidence of fighting between criminal groups, but larger criminal networks slowly took over smaller opportunistic ones, leading to an oligopoly.

About 250 smuggling 'hotspots', often at railway stations, airports or coach stations both inside and outside the EU, were identified along the routes. Pictured are migrants arriving in Lesbos in February



In 2015, the vast majority of migrants made risky boat trips in boats across the Mediterranean from Turkey or
Libya. Around 800,000 were still in Libya waiting to travel to the EU, the report said


In 2015, the vast majority of migrants made risky boat trips in boats across the Mediterranean from Turkey or Libya, and then travelled on by road.

Around 800,000 were still in Libya waiting to travel to the EU, the report said.

But increasing border controls mean air travel is likely to become more attractive, with fraudulent documents rented out to migrants and then taken back by an accompanying facilitator.

Migrant smuggling routes could be used to smuggle drugs or guns, and there was growing concern that radicalised foreign fighters could also use them to enter the EU, it said.

But there was no concrete data yet to suggest militant groups consistently relied on or cooperated with organised crime groups, it added.

Nine out of ten migrants arriving in EU last year were brought in by people smugglers | Daily Mail Online

To much foreign news is a big distraction from the U.S. immigration problems and our elections. IMO

UN Director Admits: Syrians Not Fleeing Over War, Gulf Countries ‘Haven’t Taken A Single One’



by Raheem Kassam15 May 2016

The Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva has revealed most of the migrants from Syria are not fleeing persecution or war, and has lashed out at both the United States and the Arab Gulf countries who he claims are not doing enough to accommodate more migrants.

Speaking to the Huffington Post this week, Michael Møller described his dissatisfaction with response to Europe’s migrant crisis, specifically taking aim at the media for failing to “educate” the public, and calling for schools to “educat[e] the youth for the problems… of tomorrow.”


But amongst his critique of the Western response to the migrant crisis, the Director-General lets slip two major points often dismissed by open borders campaigners:


1. The migrants from Syria are not fleeing because of the Syrian war:

Mr. Møller says the main reason people are leaving Syria “isn’t the crippling violence in the country”, the HuffPo reports.


“The number one reason why people leave Syria is not the bombs or the food or the cold, it’s because they want to find educational opportunities for their children,” he explains.


This would mean that most of the Syrian migrants would fall under the category of “economic migrants” rather than “refugees” – a point that Mr. Møller even clarifies later in the interview.


He says: “To put it very bluntly, every refugee is a migrant. Not every migrant is a refugee. It’s quite clear actually.”


2. Gulf countries have not taken a single migrant/refugee

While this point is hotly contested by the governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, it didn’t stop the UN chief making the claim.


Mr. Møller told the HuffPo he wants “greater international solidarity”, stating: “There’s absolutely no reason why places like Canada and the United States, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, even Asian countries who we helped not that long ago, shouldn’t take many more of these people. Not to speak about the countries in the Gulf who haven’t taken a single one.”


Speaking of the press reaction to the crisis, he has claimed that not enough has been done to report favourable stories about the migrant crisis. He blames ill-informed views on the fact that the public across the Western world “have a narrow point of view coming from local communities”.


Mr. Møller believes the press has three roles: “One is to inform, second is to educate and third is to hold power to account.”


“It’s the second one I have a problem with, because the education role of the press in general has been set a bit aside over the last few decades.”


“Most of the seven billion opinions on the internet are very ill informed, so a lot of the readers are not educated and they have a narrow point of view coming from local communities. So if we want to avoid chaos and a cacophony that isn’t leading us anywhere, we need to be much better at educating and informing people about the context in which every single one of them lives.


“There is practically nothing that isn’t online if you search long enough. But the problem is that people have to know what they are looking for, and they have to be given an incentive to do so, and that’s where the media has a role.”

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016...en-single-one/