Tunisia is the Main Channel for Irregular Migrants to EU | Oneindia News - video Dailymotion

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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                 ~HT.178~GR.121~ED.102~

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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]

Tunisia is the Main Channel for Irregular Migrants to EU | Oneindia News

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