The Business Of Smuggling Migrants To Europe Is Now Worth 'Billions'

New York Times: Migrant Smuggling in Europe Is Now Worth ‘Billions’

BUDAPEST — With thousands of migrants pouring out of Afghanistan and the Middle East, the business of smuggling them across the Balkans into the European Union has grown even larger than the illicit trade in drugs and weapons, law enforcement officials said.

In Greece alone, there are 200 such smuggling rings, said Col. Gerald Tatzgern, head of the Austrian police service fighting human trafficking.

“It has developed into a business worth billions,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the interior minister of Austria. Smugglers have spread out through the region, in Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, she added.

Their presence is evident at Budapest’s Keleti train station, where thousands have had their route to the West cut off by Hungarian officials. The smugglers’ agents roam the crowd, quietly offering rides to Austria for hundreds of dollars.

WNU Editor: If I was living in a hell-hole like Somalia or Eritrea .... and if a smuggler promised me safe passage to Canada and the start of a new life .... I would give him everything that I have. This is exactly what many of these refugees are doing .... paying thousands of dollars for a new life and living in a system that will take care of them. But here is an easy prediction .... if they are fleeing because of economic reasons (which is what many of these migrants are doing) and the hope for a better life .... they are going to be disappointed.