‘Migrants for sale’: An investigation into the clandestine migrant smuggling economy on the Mediterranean route – Part 1

Navigating through Libya as an undocumented migrant with aspirations of crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe is “a tragedy of imprisonment and paying fines.” That is how Duaa Al Qatta, a 27-year-old mother of three from war-torn Homs, Syria, described her three-month ordeal in Libya.

Despite six desperate attempts to cross the Mediterranean on unseaworthy, overcrowded boats, each journey ended in interception by various Libyan maritime authorities and subsequent detainment. Al Qatta and her family also experienced the dire conditions of Tripoli’s infamous Abu Salim prison, notorious for its severe human rights abuses and inhumane treatment of detainees.

Migrant smugglers demand fees ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 US dollars (1,850 – 4,600 euros) per person for a perilous Central Mediterranean Sea crossing, fraught with risks including abuse, extortion, and the ever-present danger of drowning.

On one of their desperate attempts to cross the Mediterranean, a smuggler demanded 14,000 dollars for the family of five, but agreed to accept the only money they had left at the time – 13,000 dollars. InfoMigrants met the family on their seventh and successful attempt, aboard the Geo Barents, a search and rescue ship operated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and later during their asylum process in Germany.

This InfoMigrants investigation*, based on dozens of interviews with migrants who crossed the Central Mediterranean, found that Europe-bound migrants transiting through Libya face extensive financial exploitation and fall prey to human smugglers and their intermediaries, armed criminal gangs, and mercenaries. Additionally, corrupt actors from both the European Union-backed Government of National Unity (GNU) and the rival eastern government, supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA) and backed by countries such as Egypt and Russia, financially extort them further.

Identifying the key actors in corruption

Claire Healy, a research officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and coordinator of its Observatory on Smuggling of Migrants, highlighted a concerning reality: funding allocated for EU-Libya border control mechanisms may inadvertently end up lining the pockets of individuals who exploit it for personal financial gain.

“There are documented links between different armed groups, militias, smugglers, traffickers and the Libyan authorities and so on. Those are documented and exist,” Healy told InfoMigrants. “I can on record refer to the reports by the panel of experts on Libya saying that.”

Financial resources allocated by the EU to Libya for managing border control initiatives have faced significant scrutiny due to allegations of misappropriation and corruption. These funds, intended to enhance border security and improve conditions for migrants, have been reported to end up in the hands of corrupt officials, militia groups and criminal gangs. This diversion of resources not only undermines the intended humanitarian and security goals, but can also perpetuate human rights abuses in Libyan detention centers. Calls for greater transparency and accountability have been made by various international organizations such as Human Rights Watch as well as European Parliament members to ensure that the funds are used effectively and ethically.

Al Qatta and her family said they couldn’t identify all the different forces that captured them and imprisoned or dumped them in different locations across Libya. In interviews, the family members made references to “government and military forces” and made specific reference to the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade (TBZ) – or “human frogs” as they have been dubbed by migrants. The TBZ is an armed force led by Saddam Haftar, son of LNA General Commander Khalifa Haftar – rulers of the east. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have accused the TBZ of committing war crimes in Libya.

“The thing about the sea crossing from Libya to Italy is, there’s no way of doing that without being in contact with Libyan actors,” said Healy.

In interviews with InfoMigrants, migrants employed a variety of terms such as mafia, gangs, militia, Libyans, smugglers, traffickers, Libyan coast guard, human frogs, and the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade interchangeably to describe the diverse array of actors engaged in the migration smuggling and border control industry in Libya.

“It’s really difficult to determine which group you’re dealing with when it comes to Libyan actors. When we asked people, who were your smugglers or who was responsible for abuses, they might say military, they might say criminal groups, they might say government forces, but in Libya it’s very difficult to tell the difference,” Healy said. “Also for linguistic reasons, they’d be less likely to be able to understand in more detail what’s going on.”

The two main actors, however, would be the Libyan coast guard and the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), Healy stated, adding that in the past two to three years, the number of interceptions at sea by the Libyan coast guard have increased significantly.

Financial extortion of migrants in arbitrary detention

Migrants also find it difficult to determine exactly in which location and by which actors they are held in detention. There are official detention centers run by the Tripoli government, explained Flavio Di Giacomo, the International Organization’s (IOM) spokesperson for its Coordination Office for the Mediterranean. Abu Salim for example, is officially an administrative detention center managed by the Ministry of the Interior and the DCIM.

“But there are also a lot unofficial detention centers we don’t know.” Following a Libyan interception at sea, migrants can find themselves locked up in arbitrary detention from anywhere between a few days to a few years – depending on whether they can obtain the means to pay their way out.

“If you pay more money, they will release you from prison. If you don’t pay, you will remain imprisoned,” Ghada* (name changed), another young mother from Syria, told InfoMigrants.

Ghada fled the southwestern Syrian city of Daraa with her small son and blind aunt for Libya, hoping to cross the Mediterranean. She was stripped of all the money she had with her when she was intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and detained with her family.

According to Ghada, her husband’s uncle is still in prison in Bir Al-Ghanam, along with around 700 young Syrian men. “Either you pay 4,000 dollars or you stay in prison,” she said.

Criminal networks and armed groups thrive in Libya’s security vacuum

Libya’s fragmented political situation – which exacerbated following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and the North African coastal country was left with a security vacuum – has allowed for criminal networks such as smuggling gangs to become entrenched in Libya. They are known to be interlinked with militia and government actors in both eastern and western parts of the country.

Militias and armed groups control key departure points and sometimes participate directly in the migrant smuggling operations. The financial profits from this trade are substantial, contributing to the local economies of the regions involved and funding further criminal activities.

“There are many smuggling groups working on the territory. Sometimes they are even fighting among themselves because it depends on which militia they’re working with,” said Di Giacomo.

“There are different families in the militia. They control the territory and they have in their hands the smuggling business,” he added. “In 2012, 2013, a lot of young people started in this militia and started to work in the smuggling business for economic reasons.”

Then sometimes there is also an “intermediator.” This is someone who is usually the same nationality of the migrants, and organizes contact between the migrant and the smuggler and helps facilitate the crossing. They typically hold a portion of the migrant’s money, Di Giacomo explained.

What do undocumented migrants trapped in Libya do when they run out of money?

Mohammed, a 28-year-old Kurd from the city of Kobani, a Syrian city at the border with Turkey besieged by the Islamic State a decade ago, first escaped to Lebanon through the help of smugglers who promised him a safe passage to Europe. Instead, he told InfoMigrants they stole all his money and Mohammed was left stranded in Lebanon for nine months until he could get his hands on more money to continue his journey.

When migrants face financial strain, they often resort to the informal sector for employment opportunities. Syrian migrants for instance might work odd jobs throughout various cities in Turkey, Lebanon and Libya before they reach an irregular departure launchpad such as Sabratha.

“Sometimes it takes one year to gather all the money needed for the crossing,” said Di Giacomo from IOM. “So they gather the money, in cash, with these small jobs they find, and then they give the money to the smuggler.” They may again work informally throughout Europe until they reach their final destination (for Syrians this may be odd jobs in Italy and Austria for instance before reaching Germany – the primary destination for Syrian asylum seekers).

Together with a cousin, Mohammed made his way to Libya from Lebanon, but again he said he was deceived by smugglers promising him a journey to Europe, and he was robbed of all his savings. He had to stay yet another nine months to get back on his feet financially.

Migrants are also forced to turn to the informal sector when relatives, friends or even loan sharks in their home country can no longer request intermediaries or social connections such as acquaintances or people referred by smugglers based in Libya to deposit money at clandestine cash drop off sites to assist them or help pay off debts to smugglers. Such intermediaries or social connections are typically “paid back” by compensating their family members or connections in their home country through various ways. For some, financial compensation or personal favors for family members is already considered a done deal, while others would expect family to hand back a monetary package at some point in the future.

To make clandestine payments for irregular migration processes, money can flow through informal underground banking systems compromised of intricate global networks of cash deposits from Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Libya to various cities across Europe such as Rome and Berlin. Hawala informal payments and alternative remittance systems are also found to be used throughout the irregular migration process.

On two occasions, Mohammed successfully departed Libya before being intercepted by the coast guard. He spent time behind bars in the coastal cities of Zuwara and Sabratha.

“But every time we tried to leave by sea, the smugglers would steal our money,” Mohammed told InfoMigrants on the Geo Barents in February.

*This series is based on an investigation conducted between February and May 2024 across Germany, Italy, and the Central Mediterranean. The investigation included a period on board the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) search and rescue ship, the Geo Barents, from January 30 to February 10. InfoMigrants was unable to independently verify the personal testimonies provided by individual migrants.