“These immigrants arrive by plane.” Malta accuses a Syrian airline

Malta Pointing fingers at the Syrian airline for Increased departures from eastern Libya. In the last few hours Valletta Home Secretary, Byron Camillerialready accused him Sham Wings To bring thousands of Bengali immigrants to Benghazi, who then head to Europe. Thus linking the increase in flow resulting from the Libyan coasts to the activities of the Syrian carrier. That is why Camilleri himself called on the European Union to take action Sizes against Sham Wings.

Speech of the Maltese Minister

Malta is also experiencing the recent increase in the number of crossings along the Central Mediterranean Route. The island suffers mainly from departures from gently. A recent phenomenon, which was noticed about a year ago, and represents a novelty in the study of the migration phenomenon. Before that, in fact, we left almost exclusively western Libya, from that Tripoli That is, where the criminal groups of traffickers have been rooted in the region for years.

Relative stability in the east of the country, which the general has controlled since 2014 HaftarMay like some kind of collateral in the last decade. But even now in these parts, criminal groups have realized that they can make money and that they can finance themselves with the terrifying market of human beings. And so the alarm bell went off in Valletta.

Yesterday, during a hearing in Parliament, the Minister of the Interior Camilleri had no doubts about the source of the new migration flows. the responsibility Referred to Cham Wings Company. It was founded and led by the Syrian businessman Issam ShammoutSince 2014, the carrier has been the first private operator in Damascus in the air transport sector.

According to Camilleri, the planes that took off from Syrian airports are responsible for transporting thousands of citizens from them Bangladesh in Cyrenaica. Hence, this is how Bengali immigrants deal with smugglers and then have the opportunity to go to Europe. “The first question we Europeans have to ask ourselves is: How many people must die before we all agree to fight the traffickers? Camilleri said.

fight for human traffickers According to the representative of the Maltese government, he must first pass through for the brakes Who encourages departure and who brings migrants along the Libyan coast. “for this reason – he added – We asked the European Commission to take direct action on smuggling people from Dhaka in Bangladesh to Libya and Europe, where a private Syrian airline called Cham Wings is involved.

Why does Malta accuse Cham Wings?

The Syrian tanker is not new to such accusations. In 2021 the same European Commission Cham wings sanctioned for his involvement in Belarusian road immigration. Indeed, in the fall of that year, thousands of immigrants from the Middle East pressed along the Polish and Lithuanian borders. The source of this unprecedented influx of migrants was precisely the transportation of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis to Minsk by air routes. Several flights to the Belarusian capital were operated by Cham Wings.

However, the sanctions were lifted the following year, also due to the suspension of flights to Belarus by a decision of the Syrian company. The company had defended itself on that occasion, claiming that it had not been able to operate one Excellence, on their planes, among ordinary passengers and immigrants. Perhaps it was this precedent that gave life to the accusations of Malta.

On the one hand, if it is true that Bengali citizens are among the most present on board the boats heading towards the archipelago and towards Italy, on the other hand, their transportation to Libya via Damascus appears to be a new reality. in a reportoimthe International Organization for Migration, last year There is talk of transferring mainly Bengali citizens via Turkey. In fact, there are many flights between Dhaka And Istanbul. From here, many have the opportunity to catch a plane to Tripoli.

However, there is no trace of intermediate stops made in Syria. Also, a large portion of Bengalis who leave Cyrenaica attend population For years in Libya or from neighboring Egypt. already from here Thanks to the easy penetration of the borders between the two North African countriesIt’s very easy to go overland to Tobruk.