Organised crime muscling in on migrant trafficking
Paris (AFP) - The profits are huge, the risks limited and the demand virtually inexhaustible: trafficking illegal migrants to Europe is increasingly becoming the domain of organised crime groups attracted by the multi-billion-dollar pay-off, experts say.
Transporting desperate migrants from conflict zones in Africa or the Middle East is a lucrative business that generates an estimated $7 billion (six billion euros) a year, and mafia groups want a slice of the pie.
"Cross-border trafficking flows ... are more often connected to organised crime. Complex trafficking flows can be more easily sustained by large and well-organised criminal groups," said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in a recent report.
With better connected and broader "big fish" networks taking over, even the journey itself has changed, said Arezo Malakooti, who works for Paris-based Altai, a group that advises the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
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