Human smuggling

Migrant Smuggling Into Europe Worth More Than $5 Billion In 2015

Europe is confronted with an unprecedented migration crisis in terms of the number of migrants arriving in the region as well as the level of involvement of complex and ruthless migrant smuggling networks.

Conflict, unrest and poor living conditions in the Middle East and Africa have significantly increased the number of migrants - legal and illegal – and many countries are struggling to cope, closing borders and putting the Schengen “free travel” agreement at risk.

Furthermore, migrant smuggling has become big business, with suspects originating from over 100 countries. Profits are often used for nefarious means, such as terrorism funding, and some migrants are even channeled into terrorism activity to repay their debts to the smugglers.

Intelligence from Europol indicates that more than 90 percent of all migrants reaching the European Union use the facilitation services of a migrant smuggling network at some point throughout their journey. Migrant smuggling networks have proven flexible and resilient, adapting to law enforcement action by quickly changing the routes used to smuggle migrants to the European Union (EU).