Human trafficking

People-smuggling is Europe’s ‘fastest-growing’ crime network. But don’t look there for suspected militants.

The staggering wave of migrants and refugees into Europe last year netted smuggling groups up to $6.6 billion. But probably no more than a handful of suspected militants were among the exodus from war-wracked places such as Syria and Iraq.

Those are the conclusions from a report Monday by the European Union’s police agency, Europol, as it tries to take stock of the human tide from last year – and look ahead to an even greater migrant crisis that appears to be brewing.

So far, it’s been a windfall for smugglers along the lucrative routes into the European Union: mainly over the Aegean Sea to Greek islands, but also via land pathways to slip into Bulgaria or across the Mediterranean from North Africa.