Filenews 25 August 2023
Police investigations continue at an intensive pace to solve the serious case concerning the smuggling ring of irregular migrants for which five suspects, all Syrians, are detained.
The investigations focus on the 44 migrants who were found yesterday in the homes or together with the five alleged members of the ring and who are in Cyprus legally, either as asylum seekers or with temporary protection status. These individuals will be called one by one to testify about how they came to Cyprus and about their relationship with the five arrested. The Police do not exclude that some of them came to our country through the channel that channels them from Syria to the coast of Cape Greco for a hefty fee.
As there are assumptions, a migrant paid the rings between €2,000 and €3,500 to come from Syria to Cyprus. The boats started from Lebanon and after loading the foreigners from the Syrian coast, they came to the shores of Cyprus where they were detected and intercepted. This year alone, more than 500 irregular migrants have arrived in this way in 45 boats in the last three months.
ICF Headquarters investigators investigating the case, which came to light after the interior ministry cooperated with Lebanese authorities, had placed the five suspects under surveillance.
Analysis of information, data and evidence revealed that some people here were indeed involved in smuggling irregular migrants. The five arrested are being held by court order on suspicion of forming a criminal organization. Police are looking for seven more people to facilitate interrogations, while it is not excluded that bank accounts or telecommunications data may be opened to determine whether they are really involved in a ring that brought migrants here taking advantage of their need for reunification with their family or relatives.
Many migrants, when they arrive here, report that they paid smugglers large sums that they often did not have and that is why they were forced to sell what they had and did not have to transport them to Europe and eventually end up in our country. The problem with the arrival of irregular migrants on the shores of Cyprus has been producing lately, which is why it was decided at the highest level to dismantle the networks that traffic them.
"F" reports that the possibility of increasing penalties for traffickers is being studied, since it appeared that the courts impose up to 24 months in prison as the maximum penalty, which is not considered a deterrent due to the large profit that these networks have.
