The wave of refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe has netted human traffickers made $3.3-6.6 billion in 2015, according to a report from Europol released Monday.
The European Union police agency called the widespread smuggling the “fastest growing criminal market in Europe,” and expects the dollar figure to “double or triple if the scale of the current migration crisis persists in the upcoming year.”
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“Europol’s research indicates 90 per cent of migrants arriving in Europe have their journey facilitated by a criminal organisation,” said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol in a statement. “Tackling this huge people smuggling trade, therefore, has become an essential part of the EU’s response to the migrant crisis.”
The report found at least 12,000 people from more than a dozen countries got some cut from the lucrative smuggling routes into Europe. It listed “hotspots” for migrant-smuggling outside the EU including cities in North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, like Algiers, Beirut, Benghazi, Cairo, Istanbul, Misurata, and Tripoli.
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Major EU hubs for smuggling include Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, and Vienna.
The report also found, outside of a few isolated cases, that a tiny fraction of “terrorist suspects” have migrant links.
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“Far less than 0.01 percent of terrorist suspects have had migrant links,” Wainwright told reporters during a press conference Monday.
However the report did note, two of the perpetrators of the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, 2015 entered the EU using migrant networks.
The International Office for Migration said more than 90,000 people have reached Europe from Turkey over the Aegean Sea in 2016, and more than 400 people have died trying.
Earlier in February, Canada’s HMCS Fredericton joined several NATO warships in waters between Turkey and Greece in efforts to disrupt smuggling networks.
Europol also announced the launch new unit Monday dedicated to tackling migrant smuggling. The new centre located at the policing agency’s headquarters in The Hague will help EU member states improve their exchange of information and co-ordination.
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