Human Smuggling in the Eastern Mediterranean by Theodore Baird

Author:Theodore Baird [Baird, Theodore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367226152
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Brokering deals

If you don’t have money, nobody takes care of you. And if you have friends, they need to come. Many people have come here just to travel. You will call them to come to you, and after that you will give them to the smuggler. And you will gain money.

(Comments from a former broker)

One evening, six men from multiple nations were sitting and speaking together alongside the coastal road in Istanbul during sunset, looking out at the Sea of Marmara as sun rays bounced from wave to wave. The police were conducting their evening patrol of the area when they noticed the six men and asked to see their documents, as it was rare to see such a multinational group together in this area. The first man gave Iraqi documents, and the rest handed across Syrian, Pakistani, Somali, Iranian, and Turkish documents. The police were shocked that such a diverse group could be found sitting and chatting yet not sharing a common language. The men were questioned by the police, remaining reserved and silent. Finally one man broke under the pressure: it appeared they were discussing how to cross into Europe without being detected, and the common language was money.

“And the cop asked ‘what the hell are you doing? You are from different countries? How the hell are you doing this business?’” says my informant. “Contacts, that’s how. An Afghani person contacts an Afghani, the Afghani contacts a Turkish person, and that Turkish person contacts me.”

My confidant, a man close to the business of providing fraudulent documents to willing travelers, and I sit in a shaded café discussing the intricacies of clandestine movement into and through Turkey while munching on sandwiches and sipping tea. He has been involved in the production of fraudulent documents for years, and is respected within the community, owning a successful business and raising a family. He has never been arrested and has seldom had difficulties with the police. The number of apartments he owns is a measure of his success.

You understand? That’s why nobody works alone. We share. The money is shared, the business is shared. Nobody works just one. Like I said before, six people from different countries sitting and talking. One of them brings people, another controls money, one of them shipping control, one of them passport control, one of them contacts the ferry, one of them contacts the rental car, one buys the tickets, one of them contacts Asia to bring the documents, one of them needs to go to Thailand to get the documents.

“Is it easy? How do you meet clients?” I ask.

“You know what you do, let’s say I’m Somali, you’re Afghani, and he’s Iraqi”—pointing to an imaginary figure:

He’s the sender, I give him ten people, you give him ten people, and some other guy gives him ten people. He doesn’t know anybody—he can’t control the money of ten people each—he only knows you, one man. That’s it. And everybody migrating knows this guy bringing the clients. They don’t know each other.

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