The European law enforcement agency, Europol, announced on Tuesday the arrest of around 130 suspects during a massive operation targeting human trafficking.
Police officers from 22 countries participated in the joint operation which also identified 60 new suspects, Europol said in a statement.
The agency said more than 22,480 law enforcement officers were involved in what it called “days of action”, during which checks were carried out at sea, land and air borders, especially on the widely used routes to Europe. During the days of the operation, approximately 13,500 locations and nearly one million people were checked.
German police take part in EU-wide operation
German police were among the law enforcement agencies involved and launched a “wide-ranging operation” early Tuesday morning in the “fight against human trafficking”, according to a police statement.
Raids by hundreds of officers took place in several German states, including Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Baden-Württemberg.
Osnabrück police said the search focused in and around the northwestern city, as well as in Bremen, also in the north, and Baden-Württemberg state capital Stuttgart, in southwestern Germany.
Police said they seized property and made arrests during the large-scale operation
British, Belgian, French and Dutch police were also involved, the statement said.
A police spokeswoman in Osnabrück told DW that the operation involved international smuggling efforts and that it was “not wrong” to suggest it was linked to the smuggling of people from across the English Channel, as previously reported in local media.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
flee poverty
Our investigation began in Benin City, capital of Edo State. Almost everyone we spoke to has at least one friend or family member in Europe. More than three quarters of illegal prostitutes in Italy come from this region. Due to high youth unemployment in Edo State, many young women see fewer prospects here. Rather, they seek a better life in Europe, without being fully aware of the dangers.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
False promises
The Catholic sister, Bibiana Emenaha, has been trying for years to warn young Nigerian women before they end up in Europe. “Many are lured in by false promises,” she told us. The traffickers promise jobs such as babysitting or hairdressing, but this quickly turns out to be a lie. Once the young women are in Europe, they end up on the streets.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
“People are greedy”
After long negotiations, a trafficker agreed to interview us. He called himself Steve and claimed to have already transported more than 100 Nigerians to Libya. He didn’t want to talk about the people behind his business. He said he was just a service provider. “People here in Edo State are greedy. They will do anything for a better life,” Steve said.
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Dangerous trip to the Sahara
For 600 euros ($666) per person, Steve organizes the trip from Nigeria to Libya. “Most people know how dangerous the journey through the Sahara is,” the smuggler told us. Many people die very often along the way. “That’s the risk,” said Steve, who personally brings migrants to Agadez in Niger. A colleague then takes over.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
Agadez: a hub for human traffickers
The desert city of Agadez was the most dangerous part of our research trip. The city thrives on human and drug trafficking, and foreigners are often kidnapped for ransom. We could only move around with armed guards and had to wear traditional headgear to be less visible.
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Solve the migration crisis
Like many others in the desert city, Omar Ibrahim Omar, the Sultan of Agadez, sees human trafficking as a problem that cannot be solved in Agadez. He is asking for more money from the international community. His argument: If Europe does not want more migrants to continue to transit through the Mediterranean Sea, Europe should support Niger more.
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The “Monday caravan” to Libya
For months, several trucks carrying migrants from Agadez have been leaving north every Monday shortly before sunset. The crisis in Libya has contributed to human traffickers being able to reach the Mediterranean Sea without the usual checks. And we soon learned that the authorities here in Niger have little interest in their activities.
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“Girls are getting younger”
Many migrants from Nigeria land on the streets in Italy. Social worker Lisa Bertini works with foreign prostitutes. “They come more and more,” she tells us. According to official figures, around 1,000 Nigerians traveled to Italy across the Mediterranean in 2014. In 2015, that figure rose to 4,000. “And the girls are getting younger,” the social worker said.
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Search “Madam”
With the help of a Nigerian colleague, we discovered an alleged “Madame” in northern Italy. A Nigerian host in Italy is called “Madame”, she is at the top of a small network of traffickers. The madam we found lived in a suburb of Florence and a victim brought serious charges against her: “She beat us and forced us into prostitution,” the victim said.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
‘Madame’ and her daughters
As we confronted the supposed ‘Madame’ over the charges, she admitted to harboring six young Nigerian women in her home, but denied forcing them into prostitution: ‘It’s just something young Nigerians do here . After our interview, we entrusted our research to the Italian prosecutor’s office.
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Track down human traffickers in Nigeria
Cheap sexual satisfaction
Sister Monika Uchikwe has long denounced the inactivity of the Italian authorities. For eight years, she has been caring for victims of human trafficking. She angrily explained as we asked about the customers. Men still want cheap gratification – sex with a Nigerian woman on the street is only $10. “Without this possibility, this problem would not exist,” she said.
Author: Jan-Philipp Scholz / Adrian Kriesch / abj
Osnabrück police said the operation was carried out in coordination with Europol and Eurojust, the European Criminal Justice Agency.
Notorious Channel route for human trafficking
In November last year, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked for help from the UK, Belgium and Germany to “fight human traffickers”.
His comments came after a boat capsized in the English Channel killing 27 people trying to reach Britain.
Five suspected smugglers were thus arrested, one of them having a car registered in Germany. Darmanin went on to say, with France facing pressure from Britain at the time, that many smuggling activities were actually rooted in France’s Western European neighbors.
Edited by: Mark Hallam.
