Internet at heart of new tactics for Med people smugglers

In this Nov. 27, 2014 file photo, a baby looks out from the window of a bus after disembarking from a crippled freighter carrying hundreds of refugees trying to migrate to Europe, at the coastal Cretan port of Ierapetra, Greece. Migrants dreaming of Europe have their pick of social media sites that work like an online travel agent, advertising fares and offering tips on secure payments. Meanwhile, the traffickers who send them floating across the Mediterranean are buying scrapyard cargo ships over the Internet. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File) In this Nov. 27, 2014 file photo, a baby looks out from the window of a bus after disembarking from a crippled freighter carrying hundreds of refugees trying to migrate to Europe, at the coastal Cretan port of Ierapetra, Greece. Migrants dreaming of Europe have their pick of social media sites that work like an online travel agent, advertising fares and offering tips on secure payments. Meanwhile, the traffickers who send them floating across the Mediterranean are buying scrapyard cargo ships over the Internet. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

By Associated Press January 12, 2015 4 min read

BRUSSELS (AP) – Migrants dreaming of Europe have their pick of social media sites that work like an online travel agent, advertising fares and offering tips on secure payments. Meanwhile, the traffickers who send them floating across the Mediterranean are buying scrapyard cargo ships over the Internet.

That’s the picture of an increasingly sophisticated business in migrant smuggling painted by European officials and an EU document seen by The Associated Press.

Information gathered from migrants rescued at sea “confirms that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are widely used to share information on how to enter the EU illegally,” says the analysis compiled by security experts for EU policy makers.

The document underscores the ingenuity and flexibility of human traffickers, as Libya’s mounting chaos forces them to turn away from the country as the preferred departure point.

With thousands of sub-Saharan Africans willing to pay as much as 2,000 euros ($2,400) for a spot in an overcrowded dinghy – and wealthier Syrians now barely flinching at shelling out 9,600 euros ($8,000) for a place aboard a rusty cargo ship – criminal gangs from Turkey are homing in on a share of the profits.