According to intelligence seen by MaltaToday, criminal groups are smuggling Bangladeshis and Africans into Italy, charging migrants €1,500 each for the transfer between Damascus in Syria and Benghazi in Libya. Flights operated by Syrian airline Cham Wings are used for this purpose.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants are being smuggled aboard charter flights into Libya where they get onto boats to reach Europe, according to intelligence seen by MaltaToday.
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.
In Libya, the migrants are then assigned to boats that embark on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach Italy.
Migrants are given the flight tickets at the airport and th...