Fifteen citizens of Afghanistan drowned in Greek waters on 3 February 2026, and 24 others, including 11 children, were rescued. The incident once again demonstrated that the closure of legal migration routes has placed asylum seekers at the mercy of human smuggling networks, turning the phenomenon into a transnational, multi-billion-dollar industry; an industry that has taken hostage the lives and futures of thousands more people from Afghanistan.
The Incident and Conflicting Accounts
A spokesperson for the Greek Coast Guard attributed the capsizing of the boat to “passengers’ failure to heed officers’ warnings.” According to this account, the vessel became unstable and overturned after several radio warnings were issued.
Reuters, citing survivors, published a different account. Some said the boat had been carrying more passengers than its capacity allowed and that promises of a short journey had been deceptive.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Greece of conducting illegal pushbacks without examining asylum claims. The Greek government has rejected these allegations and blamed smugglers for the tragedies. Greek authorities have also arrested a suspect accused of cooperating with a smuggling network.
Staggering Figures: 2024 the Deadliest Year for Asian Migrants
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2024 was the deadliest year for migrants in Asia, with at least 2,778 deaths and disappearances recorded. Asylum seekers from Afghanistan account for a significant portion of these casualties.
Globally, the Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes have claimed the highest number of victims. In its 2024 report, the European Union’s border agency emphasized that intensified border controls in Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary have forced smugglers to use more dangerous sea routes, leading to an increase in drowning incidents.
Asylum seekers from Afghanistan primarily travel toward Europe through three main routes: Iran-Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Western Balkans. Each route involves serious risks, from shootings at borders and torture in detention centers to sea voyages in dilapidated and overcrowded boats.
The Network Structure of Smuggling: A Multi-Billion-Dollar Trade
The report “Smuggling of Migrants: A Global Review,” published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Europol in May 2023, indicates that migrant smuggling operates through a multilayered and transnational structure. The networks include local recruiters, route coordinators, border guides, and informal money transfer systems.
The cost of transporting a citizen of Afghanistan from Iran to Germany or Sweden is estimated at between 6,000 and 12,000 US dollars. More expensive routes, known as “VIP packages,” cost up to 20,000 US dollars and are often financed through the sale of assets or heavy loans. Observers believe that the closure of legal pathways allows criminal gangs to exploit human hope as a commodity. Restrictions do not halt migration; rather, they strengthen the illegal trade.
Links Between Smuggling and Organized Crime
Reports by the Global Investigative Journalism Network and field investigations show that human smuggling gangs are often linked to drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and even organ trafficking. Some asylum seekers from Afghanistan have reported being kidnapped by hostage-takers and forced to pay between 5,000 and 10,000 US dollars for their release.
These groups treat asylum seekers as “human cargo” and, in cases of nonpayment, abandon or kill them. Organ trafficking has also been reported in some black markets, although independent verification remains difficult.
Women and Girls: Vulnerable Victims
In its report “Escape from Afghanistan: The Gendered Consequences of Migration,” published in February 2024, Amnesty International stated that women and girls seeking asylum from Afghanistan face layered risks along migration routes, including sexual violence, exploitation, human trafficking, and forced marriages. Many of these cases go unreported, and prolonged stays in camps in Turkey, Greece, and the Mediterranean islands, without support services, have increased vulnerability.
Pressure from Transit Countries and the Cycle of Deportation
Pakistan began the detention and deportation of undocumented migrants in October 2023. By the end of 2025, more than 1.7 million asylum seekers had been returned to Afghanistan.
Over the past two years, Iran has deported 1.8 million asylum seekers from Afghanistan.
Turkey has stated that restrictions on asylum registration have increased and that only 23 percent of applications in 2024 were accepted, compared with more than 60 percent in 2019.
Psychological Consequences: A Generation in Limbo
Homayoun Sediqi, a psychologist, says: “Young asylum seekers from Afghanistan who are on migration routes exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and chronic anxiety. Traumatic experiences, including beatings, witnessing corpses, torture, and legal uncertainty, have intensified psychological harm.” He adds that deprivation of education and employment has placed this generation in an identity and social vacuum whose effects will persist for decades.
Europe’s Containment Policy: The Ineffectiveness of Walls and Outsourcing
The European Union has focused on containing migrant arrivals and outsourcing border management to third countries such as Turkey. Significant budgets have been allocated to strengthening walls and surveillance systems.
A report by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties in September 2024 emphasizes that in the absence of sufficient resettlement quotas and legal migration pathways, demand for smuggling has not only failed to decline but has increased.
Conclusion: The Transnational Crisis of Human Smuggling
The drowning of 15 citizens of Afghanistan in Greece highlighted the failure of purely security-based policies. International evidence and statistics indicate that human smuggling in South Asia and the Middle East has evolved into a large criminal network fueled by poverty, war, and closed borders.
The penetration of these networks along migration routes, their links to organized crime, and their treatment of asylum seekers as commodities demonstrate that this crisis extends beyond a mere border challenge. Unless the international community and European countries strike a balance between border management and the creation of legal migration mechanisms, smuggling gangs will continue to expand their influence.
The central question remains: Will Europe create legal and humane pathways to halt smuggling networks, or will the policy of containment continue, allowing tragedies to be repeated?
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
صنعت میلیاردی مرگ؛ وقتی دیوارهای اروپا پناهجویان را به باندهای جنایتکار میفروشد