“If the Turkish government wouldn’t want us to do what we do, we wouldn’t be able to pass a fly to Greece,” said a Turkish migrant trafficker speaking to Anampa news agency.
According to the report, a man identifying himself as “Osman” is one of the leading traffickers who carry migrants and refugees from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands.
Osman says he owns a shop in Smyrna, in a neighborhood called “Damascus”, because of the large number of transit Syrian refugees. The main racket of trafficking is in Smyrna. From there, people from Syria get in private cars that take them to the points where they will be put in boats with the destination being the nearby Greek islands of Chios and Lesbos.
According to the trafficker, the secret transferring of migrants to the points of departure is done by buses that are loaded onto tow trucks. Even school buses are used outside school hours to carry refugees. Convoys of private cars are also utilized so that when police stop one car for check, the others can still continue to their destination. Osman also speaks of cases where hearses or limousines – for the rich – have been used.
Osman says that the structure of the trafficking organization resembles the mafia, where at the top there are people who have worked in trafficking for over 20 years.
In the departure spots, there are the “local”,groups that secure the passages. They also train the migrants on how to man the boats, or pay someone to take the passengers and come back with the boat. They put 50 passengers on bigger boats and 20 in smaller dinghies.
The trafficker says there are also two other groups, the “dealers” and the “bankers”. The former fish for clients using social media such as Facebook or by word of mouth. The latter are those who collect the money from the migrants. Payments can be made in cash, jewelry, or even antiquities. Once the money is collected, the migrant is transferred to Europe within three days.
Once the migrant has crossed to Europe, he or she calls the banker and gives him the code he has been given before departure. After that, the banker pays all parties involved. The head of the racket gets 80-85 percent of the total amount received per migrant.
Osman, who claims he is the head of a racket explains that he gets most of the money because he pays for the boats, that can cost 800-20,000 euros. He says the boats are legally sold and bought so that they move freely and pass police checks.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
