Charities ‘pay people traffickers’: Libyan coastguard’s astonishing claim… cash handed to criminal gangs so they ‘deliver’ refugees
- Refugee charities are paying smugglers to ferry migrants, Libyan official claims
- Allegation to raise concern that jihadists could be among the smuggled migrants
- But charities say they are only their to rescue migrants off north African coast
Colonel Tarek Shanboor said he had obtained bank details and phone records that proved the charities were making payments to criminal gangs who have put hundreds of thousands of migrants into unseaworthy boats – leading to thousands of deaths each year.
Colonel Shanboor said aid agencies were now encouraging more and more migrants to make the perilous trip. He claimed he had handed evidence of collusion between charities and traffickers to EU border security officials in Brussels, though he refused to go into detail.
A Sicilian prosecutor has launched an investigation into alleged collusion between traffickers and charities and accused NGOs of fuelling the migrant crisis in Europe.
Last month, about 1,500 migrants were rescued from rickety vessels by one of the charities, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
Andre organisationer er: Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), Dutch charity Jugend Rettet, Sea-Watch, a German charity.
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