French media reports have revealed the dismantling of a migrant smuggling network that used an unusual method to cross the Mediterranean from Libya, disguising migrants as crew members aboard a livestock transport ship.
According to the French newspaper Midi Libre, the network managed to transport around 20 migrants to France and Germany over the past two years using this method.
The report said the network operated between Libya, Syria, and the port of Sète in the Hérault region of southern France. Migrants’ identities were falsified, and they were provided with fake passports and blue maritime uniforms to present them as sailors on board a cargo vessel.
Information indicates that the cost of the journey reached about €22,000 per person, with most migrants believed to have departed from Libyan and Syrian coasts, in addition to migrants from Algeria.
The newspaper said that France’s Office for the Fight against Migrant Smuggling (OLTIM) dismantled the network last September. The case resurfaced this week after one of the main suspects appeared before the Montpellier Court of Appeal on March 10.
The suspect is a Syrian man who has lived in Sète for about ten years and worked managing an auto body repair workshop in Montpellier. He is suspected of overseeing the disembarkation of migrants at the port and facilitating their entry into French territory.
In connection with the case, the cargo ship used to transport the migrants; named “Anakin” and flying the Togo flag; has been placed on the European blacklist, preventing it from docking in EU ports. French authorities are awaiting the completion of judicial procedures ahead of the suspects’ trial.