Smugglers made over $5 billion from migrants in 2015: report

Europol and Interpol are expecting an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the EU.


People smugglers raked in more than $5 billion during Europe’s migrant influx last year, according to a joint Interpol-Europol report, released Tuesday.

Ninety percent of migration to the EU is “predominantly facilitated by members of a criminal network,” the agencies said, with smugglers coming from more than 100 countries. About 1 million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of whom traveled by sea between Turkey and Greece.

The report found migrants paid on average between $3,200 and $6,500, mostly in cash, giving smugglers an “average turnover of $5 to $6 billion in 2015.”

The report found no evidence of fighting — what it called “violent competition” — between smugglers, but said larger criminal networks were gradually taking over from “smaller opportunistic” groups.



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