While Germany grapples with how to manage migration, people traffickers in Tunisia are busier than ever. The North African country remains a major transit point on the route to Europe.
#EU #Migrant #Tension
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#EU #Migrant #Tension
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The ruins of an old fortress offer Mahmoud the perfect view.
00:04 He says he's one of the top people smugglers on this little island of Kerkennah and that
00:09 he's taken more than 1,200 people to Europe this year already.
00:12 He doesn't want to be identified and insists on being filmed while on the phone.
00:17 I have been doing this since 2011.
00:20 I learn from others in the business and things have been growing all the time.
00:24 At one point I started to make real money, a few hundred euros more than a few thousand
00:30 more.
00:31 I love my work now.
00:35 He's on the phone all the time.
00:39 The secret to his success?
00:41 Quality, he says.
00:44 He doesn't simply fill boats with people and send them off to their fate.
00:48 He captains the boats himself.
00:51 It's an expensive option for his customers.
00:55 I earn the most from foreigners.
00:57 A Tunisian pays between 1,500 and 2,500 euros.
01:02 But I charge foreigners, Algerians, Palestinians, Moroccans around 4,000 euros per person.
01:11 That's too much for Mahmoud and his family from Syria.
01:15 A few months ago, they spent most of their money on spaces on a boat.
01:21 But the coast guard stopped it and took the passengers to a desolate spot in the south
01:25 of Tunisia.
01:29 They arrested us and first took us to Sfax and then on the Ben Gadan, on the border with
01:35 Libya.
01:36 It was terrible.
01:38 We were scared they would force us across the border to Libya.
01:43 Police officers who make such arrests seem to have changed their approach.
01:48 Nowadays, they often drop people close to places where people smugglers are known to
01:52 operate.
01:53 Observers suggest this might be connected to the end of the migration deal with the
01:57 EU.
01:58 The lack of stricter policing is good news for Samba.
02:02 He smuggles people out of Sousse and even rents apartments to customers while they wait
02:07 for a boat.
02:08 It's an open secret.
02:09 Even the police know, he says.
02:11 We do business with them.
02:13 They are the ones who help us, like the security.
02:19 They are the ones who used to tell us the good time, what time are we going to do the
02:24 work and what's the bad time not to do it.
02:28 He specializes in moving people from West Africa to Europe.
02:33 He says it's a twist of history.
02:35 We are not going there to be criminals.
02:39 We just go there to change the situation.
02:42 That's all.
02:43 The same way when Europe and they came to Africa to take our stuff, that's the same
02:48 way we are going back there to take our stuff again back into our country.
02:53 He says the coming weeks will probably be busy on the beaches here.
02:57 Many migrants are likely to try their luck soon, before the winter turns the odds against
03:02 them.
03:10 [BLANK_AUDIO]