On June 9th, 2023, a boat carrying approximately 750 migrating men, women and children, left the shores of Tubrok in east Libya heading to Italy. Most of those on board were Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Palestinians. Their voyage and dream of reaching the shores of safety ended tragically on the morning of June 14th, 2023, when their boat sank 80 kilometers off the coast of Pylos, Greece. According to the UN, only 104 passengers survived and 82 bodies were recovered. The rest are missing.
This investigation uncovers how human trafficking networks and travel agencies exploit Syrians wanting to migrate to Europe, by taking them to Libya on flights operated by the private Syrian Airline company, Al Cham Wings, in cooperation with the Military Investment Authority of the Libyan National Army, under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
According to a report by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, published in May, 2021, the annual income from smuggling migrants in Libya was between 89 and 236 million USD, based on the number of migrants that reached Italy.
The data collected during our investigation showed that the average cost per person smuggled to Italy from western Libya ranged between 2500 to 3000 USD, while the cost of smuggling from eastern Libya ranged from 4000 to 4500 USD. With an average of 53310 migrants passing through Libya each year, the profits of human trafficking networks in Libya (if we assume an average cost of 3600 USD per migrant) would reach approximately 192 million USD annually.
Data from the Italian Ministry of Interior shows that the number of migrants arriving to Italy via these boats doubled between January 1st, 2023 and June 21st of the same year, reaching 58171 migrants (including 3527 Syrians), compared to 24808 migrants during the same period in 2022.
“Are you currently in Syria or Lebanon? There is a flight next Monday. Would you like to book a seat?” This is how a smuggler named Abu Huthaifa answered the author of this investigation over the phone when he informed him of his wish to travel to Bengazi. The price was 1200 USD, via Al Cham Wings and the fare price included the cost of a security clearance. Other facilitations included delaying payment until the passenger lands in Bengazi, in addition to airport pick up including assistance to exit the city’s Benina Airport.
The offer made by Abu Huthaifa, who also goes by the name “Hemo Biker” on Facebook, was tempting and inclusive for any migrant wishing to enter Italy. The smuggler even suggested connecting our reporter with someone in Tubrok who was “guaranteed 100%” to secure him a trip to the shores of Italy in return for 4350 USD, which would not necessarily be paid in advance, but would be rather “held” as a guarantee in a travel agency in either Libya or Syria.
Call with Abu Huthaifa
For Sound recording translation please Click Here.
The smugglers claim that it is fairly easy to travel from Damascus, Beirut or even Amman to Bengazi or beyond through a series of simple arrangements carried out by certain travel agencies. However, these agencies are fully aware that Libya is not the final destination for most of these travelers. They know that most are headed to Italy where they intend to either settle or transit.
For the sake of this investigation, the reporter contacted several travel agencies in Beirut and Damascus, and confirmed that these trips were quite popular. A trip to Bengazi from Beirut, Amman or Cairo, requires a security clearance document which the travel agency itself provides for each traveler. As for Al Cham Wings, it issues a manifest with the names of all passengers on each flight and sends it to the Libyan Military Investment Authority in Bengazi.
In 2018, the Libyan House of Representatives in Tubrok (eastern Libya) issued a decision under law no. (3) Of 2018, to establish the Military Investment Authority allowing it to hold assets, real estate and activities that are necessary for the operation of the Libyan National Army.
According to pamphlets issued by some travel and labor agencies, the Military Investment Authority receives a share of 500 USD per passenger (migrant) in the form of fees paid with the air ticket reservation.
Ahmad Al Qasir, a human rights researcher in Human Rights Solidarity, a Libyan foundation based in Switzerland, states: “the phenomenon of people smuggling from the east picked up after 2020, following the defeat of the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, their failure to enter Tripoli, and the lack of funding therein. Hence, it became necessary to find other sources of income like people smuggling.”
He adds: “The Military Investment Authority is responsible for issuing these security clearances, and according to the documents we found, it receives 500 USD for each clearance it issues.”
The problem, according to Al Qasir, is that these migrants arrive in Libya with legal clearances/entry visas, and enter the country through its legitimate border crossings, yet as they travel towards western Libya, authorities there consider them to be illegal immigrants.
Tareq Lamloum, Chairman of the Board of the Tripoli based “Belaady” Organization for Human Rights says: “The Military Investment Authority itself issued several advertisements to recruit workers and persons with unknown jobs, but the circumstances surrounding their entry is clear and known to everyone.”
He adds: “There is no denial, in my opinion, that these migrants enter the country through facilitations provided by the Military Investment Authority and Al Cham Wings, whose flights to Libya are openly listed on their official website. Anyone conducting a simple search can access all the details including flight times and ticket prices.”
We contacted the Military Investment Authority in Bengazi for their comments on these clearance fees, their alleged role in facilitating the entrance of migrants, especially from Syria, and their cooperation with Al Cham Wings in particular. Until the date of publication of this investigation, we have not received a reply from the Authority.
Through the website Flightradar24, we managed to track all flights made by Al Cham Wings to Bengazi between 2020 and June 24, 2023. We discovered that the airline had conducted 363 flights.
An Airbus A320 has a capacity to carry between 140-170 passengers. If we assume that each flight carried an average of 150 individuals travelling for migration purposes and multiply that by 363 flights, then the number of migrating travelers during that period would be approximately 54300 passengers.
In recent years, this privately owned airline in Syria has drawn much controversy. Documents show that the company was founded in 2007, by the Shammout Group, which is owned by the Syrian businessman Issam Shammout who had several partnerships with businessman Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. The group has investments in many sectors including automobiles, steel, shipping, construction and real estate.
European and American reports have shown that the company was involved in the transport of Russian and Iranian troops to fight in Syria, which led the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to designate the airline on the US sanctions list on December 23, 2016.
In a statement issued on March 18, 2020, the Ministry of Interior in the Libyan Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli in western Libya, accused Al Cham Wings of transporting mercenaries into Libya, in an indication to its involvement in flying into eastern Libya experts and Syrian fighters with connections to the Russian military Wagner Group.
In 2021, Al Cham Wings was also a major air carrier from Damascus to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, where tens of thousands of migrants flocked to cross over into Europe. This led to it being sanctioned by the European Council which stated that the airline had opened two new offices in Minsk, in the fall of 2021, to operate flights between Damascus and the Belarusian capital.
However, observers were baffled when in July 2022, the airline was removed from the sanctions list without any proof that the original cause for its being sanctioned had seized to exist. We sent an inquiry in this regard to the European Commission and received the following reply: “The European Council has removed Al Cham Wings from the sanctions list because it was presented with information that showed that the airline was no longer engaged in the activities upon which it was sanctioned with regards to Belarus.”
The reply did not include the Commission’s views regarding the airline’s transport of migrants into Libya.
On April 19, 2023, European MEP, Cyrus Engerer, sent an inquiry letter to the European Union Commission entitled: “Cham Wings chartered flights to smuggle Bangladeshi nationals into Europe via Libya.” The letter indicated that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals “entered Europe irregularly via the central Mediterranean route… and that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) had reported a 51% increase in irregular arrivals from this route last year.”
The airline, which owns three aircrafts according to Planespotters.net, organizes two, sometimes three, weekly flights from Beirut to Damascus and then Bengazi, according to flightradar 24, which is one of its most popular and active flight routes so far.
Thousands of Syrian and other aspiring Arab migrants have chosen to put their fate in the hands of Al Cham Wings, and suspicious travel agencies and people smugglers. Two important factors that played a role in choosing such a risky and costly path are the facilitations offered by the Military Investment Authority in Bengazi, and the closure or simply the complexity of other migration routes.
Sarah Pristiani, Director of the migration program in the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights states: “Another reason for the increased influx of Syrian refugees from Libya is their subjection to anti-migrant practices on other borders especially between Turkey and Greece.”
She adds that migration route closures and human rights violations in the form of refugee forced returns, as is the case from Greece to Turkey and from Cyprus to Lebanon, all drive refugees to seek other routes to get to Europe, mostly through Libya.
Social Media platforms are filled with Ads for traveling from Damascus, Beirut, and Erbil to Bengazi. We found several Facebook pages for individuals, travel agencies and smugglers, promoting trips to Bengazi, along with assurances of providing the necessary security clearance and pick up service from Benina Airport. An example is an online group for Job Opportunities for Syrians in Bengazi – the Syrian Arab Community in Libya.
Our undercover “fake” migration journey began with an agency called Mahattet Safar (Travel Station) Travel Agency. I posed as a Syrian migrant from Latakia. The sales representative informed me that the cost would be 1200 USD, via Al Cham Wings, from Damascus International Airport to Bengazi’s Benina Airport, inclusive of the airline ticket and security clearance.
I asked about other possible travel routes to Bengazi and the sales representative gave me the option to travel from Damascus to Beirut via Al Cham Wings, then travel from Beirut to Bengazi via Egypt Air, transiting in Cairo, in which case the airline ticket would be separate from the security clearance.
I contacted the office of Al Cham Wings in Beirut and was informed that the cost of traveling from Beirut would be 1150 USD inclusive of airline ticket, security clearance and airport pick up. From Damascus, the cost would be 1200 USD. When I informed the airline’s sales representative that I was currently in Latakia with some friends, she requested that I send someone to their offices in Beirut to complete all the necessary payments and procedures.
The representative assured me that the trip was 100% guaranteed and that we would be received in Bengazi’s airport by the airline’s representative who would complete all arrival procedures such as passport stamps and airport pick up.
For further confirmation, I also contacted Ogareet Travel Agency in Damascus, and was informed that the cost of an airline ticket from Damascus to Bengazi via Al Cham Wings would be 1300 USD, inclusive of the security clearance. Then the price was lowered to 1250 USD, when I informed the agent that I would be travelling with 4 other persons.
The travel agent urged us to complete our reservation ASAP, to avoid price increases due to the decreasing value of the Syrian national currency. Regarding the security clearance, he assured us that we would be leaving Damascus International Airport without any obstacles.
Like all migrants to Europe via Libya, we had to seek a smuggler to arrange for our cross over from the Libyan shores to Italy. This proved easier than expected as social media platforms were filled with pages of smugglers and various offers with direct contact numbers.
Call with Al Cham Wings employee in Beirut
For Sound recording translation please Click Here.
Suad (pseudonym), a forty year old Syrian, had no idea that her decision to flee the dire living conditions in Daraa in 2021, would lead her to even more devastation. She contacted a travel agency named “Asfaar” requesting to travel to Europe, only to find herself headed to Bengazi, via Al Cham Wings, with the phone number of a Syrian residing in Libya called Essam whom the agency said would help her, throughout her journey. This was after Suad paid 1700 USD, to travel to Bengazi and another 500 USD for her road trip from Bengazi to Tripoli.
It turned out Essam was a people smuggler who was also a broker working with other traffickers. An agent working with Essam received Suad’s passport and took her to the city of Nawa, to stay with a Syrian family, also migrating to Italy by boat. Everyone was transported to Tripoli, where they stayed with another Syrian family. A driver then took Suad to the city of Zuwarah where she was received by Essam only to find herself in a warehouse with tens of other Syrian migrants.
Suad tried to ship out of Zuwarah twice using small boats suffocating with hundreds of migrants who were physically assaulted by the smuggler’s men if they tried to move towards the boat’s top deck. Both of her attempts failed because the Libyan Coast Guard forces intercepted their boat and sent them back to Tripoli where she was detained for 15 days in the prison of Ghout Al Shaal. She was later transferred to Al Daraj prison in the city of Ghadames, which lies on the triangular border line between Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, 580 KM from Tripoli where she remained for 4 months.
During her detention in Al Daraj prison, Suad was sexually abused, threatened and assaulted. When she tried to file a complaint with the prison’s administration, she was sent to solitary confinement. After being released from prison, she registered with the UNHCR in Libya where she currently resides in hope of finding a safer route to Italy.
Sarah Pristiani, Director of the migration program in the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights says: “After migrants are intercepted at sea and returned to land, they are held in detention centers under horrible conditions and enter an ugly cycle of violence. They continue to try to flee Libya, but are repeatedly intercepted, returned and detained. This leads boats to seek alternative routes to Italy either from the eastern Libyan shoreline or the coasts of Tunisia.
The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, issued by the US Department of State, says that migrants who live in Libya are exploited by both governmental and non-governmental entities, and that armed groups, gangs, criminal networks, tribal groups, smugglers and human traffickers all compete to smuggle migrants to Libya and other locations where they are trafficked, violated and assaulted sexually and physically.
“Do you want Italy or Tripoli?” This was the prompt reply I received from smuggler Hajj Mohammad Al Warfali, who is based in Bengazi and whom I contacted via WhatsApp to arrange for the next step of our journey. Several migrants whom I had met through some Facebook groups confirmed that Hajj Mohammad had received them In Bengazi, and helped them travel to Tripoli and, for some, even got them to Europe.
Hajj Mohammad praised himself and his work, and assured us of his integrity and honesty and the safety of the route of our journey especially in Libya. He said: “Do you know who you’re talking to? I have been in this business for 27 years, and have trained generations and have children of my own.”
He informed us that the 1000 KM trip from Bengazi to Tripoli would cost us around 110 USD each. As for the overall cost of the trip all the way to Italy, he asked us to wait until the following day, so that he could check the departure dates for boats heading to Italy, since they were heavily dependent on weather conditions.
“I want to check and see which trip is readily available, so that I could give you the right price and let you decide. God willing I will choose the best trips available. Some leave within 10 days, some within a week and some will depart the same day. On day fifteen on the month, I will have selected a few good options, as if I was travelling myself.”
Hajj Mohammad also assured us that in the event we were detained at sea, he would have us released in no time, saying: “My people have good relations on the inside of prisons, but God willing you will not get caught. None of my customers have ever been detained so far.”
He told us we had the option to travel on a 3-day trip departing from Tubrok on a giant fishing boats which had the capacity to carry 400-500 persons. Other trips from the western region, according to Hajj Mohammad, used cruiser boats and their duration was 8-10 hours.
According to a statement issued by the General Command of the Libyan Armed Forces, the issue of combating regular migration and the importance of consolidating security relations and cooperation between Libya and Italy were top of the agenda for the talks held in Rome on May 5, 2023, between Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the Italian Minister of Defense.
Director Pristiani states: “The dangers of the exploitation of the migration issue by Field Marshal Haftar are obvious. As was the case with previous governments, this matter may be used as leverage with Italy and the European Union to gain recognition for their leadership. The losing party in such extortion methods are always the migrants and refugees.”
The smuggler Hajj Al Warfali was not our only available option. When a migration route opens, tens of smugglers, brokers and middlemen start offering their services and their words are often wrapped with gentility, kindness and good intentions. Their names are often preceded with the title of “Hajj” (Pilgrim which is supposed to evokes piety and trustworthiness ).
An example is Hajj Radwan Al Zawari, known for posting videos of migrants thanking and commending him on boats that seem to be sailing towards Italy or those that have reached the shores of other European countries.
After inquiring about our trip reservations and security clearances for entering Libya, Al Zawari assured me that he would be able to reserve an airline ticket and provide the necessary security clearance to get us to Bengazi, along with a representative who would pick us up, drive us all the way to Tripoli, and see us off on a boat heading to Italy, all within a period of 10 days, and in return for just 5500 USD, inclusive of cost of temporary accommodation and subsistence.
Al Zawari says: “You want to reach your destination smoothly and without headaches and problems right? Just send me a copy of your passport and I will make the necessary reservations and security clearance, and you do not have to pay anything until you get here. You don’t have to do anything. You are the boss who just follows orders.”
To put us further at ease, he sent us a video of the boat that was supposed to take us to Italy adding: “If you get caught at sea, you will receive a full refund or you can ask for another trip if you want. Carry with you enough cash to get yourself to Bengazi, until I secure you a residence, and then you can transfer the rest of the money.”
Video of boat sent by Hajj Al Zawari
The smuggler assured us that the trip was secured by the Libyan Coast Guard, which receives 1000 USD per migrant, in return for supervising the safe departure and path of each boat at sea.
Audio of Mohammad Al Warfali ( Same as audio 5 above)
In turn, Hajj Mukhtar was also very practical and quick to respond. When I informed him that I was currently in Tripoli, he told me that there was a tripe that cost 2500 USD, on that same day, departing from the portal city of Zuwara, secured and coordinated with security forces.
After contacting him through the smuggler Abu Huthaifa, Syrian smuggler, Abu Ahmad who had been residing in Libya for 35 years, offered us a military approved trip on board a giant fishing boat via Tubrok, 550 KM east of Bengazi, in return for 4200 USD.
Abu Huthaifa states: “The western region is filled with militias and I would not advise you to take that route. They will take your money, put you on a boat and then turn you in.”
The offer given to us by Abu Ahmad included subsistence and accommodation in his own residence. He also suggested we “hold” the money in Libya, Turkey or at the Qalaa office in Tubrok, which, according to him, was the best and safest option.
Ahmad Fahmi (pseudonym), a 35 year old Syrian says: “Every migrant who has attempted to travel by sea from the west and failed, retries from the Libyan east. If you get caught travelling from the west, the smuggler himself becomes a crook, while in the east there are no militias, despite the higher cost of travel, so if you get caught, your are in the hands of the government, and will not be sold or bought.”
Fahmi, who is originally from the Syrian city of Homs, travelled via Al Cham Wings from Beirut and transited in Damascus, paying the travel agency 2800 USD inclusive of the airline ticket and the security clearance.
Our reporter met with Fahmi and his travel companions in a small apartment on the outskirts of the city of Sfax, 270 KM southeast of Tunisia, as they awaited their departure towards Europe after their chances of travelling from Libya became slim.
Fahmi and his three companions faced no problems in Bengazi’s Benina Airport, after they had bought a whole travel package from the smuggler Al Warfali, which included exiting Bengazi to Tripoli then to Italy, all in return for 2500 USD.
Al Warfali placed Fahmi and his companions in a residence owned by another smuggler, Abu Yousef Muftah, in the coastal city of Zuwara, 116 KM west of Tripoli. They shared the residence with 22 other Syrian nationals and 3 Yemenis and have stayed there waiting endlessly, amid false promises for two and a half months.
A trip was planned by the smuggler for 85 migrants, who ended up being beaten with sticks by the smuggler’s men. Shortly after their departure, the Libyan Coast Guard arrived and took them to Al Zawiah beach where they were also assaulted until they bled, threating them saying: “If you move we will shoot you and throw you in the water. You are here to drown anyway. You want to die and we will kill you.”
“We were merely numbers. They did not even ask about our names. They took us to the Osama Prison in Al Zawiah, 50 KM west of Tripoli.” Fahmi and his companions were assaulted and beaten with sticks by Africans who worked in the prison, which is known as Al Nasr Martyrs Detention Center.
The prison is run by the notorious Osama Al Koni Ibrahim, who was added to the UN and Security Council’s sanctions list on October 25, 2021, for violating the rights of migrants and for having connections with Abdul Rahman Al Milad, known as “Bidja” and Mohammad Kashlaf, known as “Qasab,” both accused of human trafficking and also listed on the Security Council’s sanctions list.
On their first day in prison, several people asked Fahmi and his companions to pay 6000 Libyan Dinars (1250 USD), in what seemed to be a ransom, in return for their release.
A report by a UN Independent Fact Finding Mission in Libya, issued on March 27, 2023, confirmed that there was overwhelming evidence that migrants were systematically subjected to torture in Libya, stating that: “the trafficking, enslavement, forced labor, imprisonment, extortion and smuggling of vulnerable migrants generated significant revenue for individuals, groups and State institutions, and that encourages further violations.”
The 2022 Amnesty International report said that the Libyan Department for Combating Illegal Migration continues, since November 27, to detain around 4000 migrants and refugees in appalling conditions, systematic torture and extortion, requiring ransoms in return for their release.
Ahmad contacted his brother to transfer the 6000 Libyan Dinars and was released from prison in July, 2022. He continued to reside in the Sorman area in Al Zawiah, where he worked for a while before deciding to move to Tunisia hoping to find an easier migration route.
Ahmad and his companions, Suad and her son, and thousands of other migrants came to Libya fleeing the scourge of war, poverty and injustice. The Turkey-Greece migration route claimed the lives and dreams of many Syrian refugees, before it was closed permanently, after which “Al Cham Wings” and the “Libyan Military Investment Commission,” offered them an alternative route of torture and frustration. An endless journey starting in Bengazi, and taking them through the various smuggling points on the Libyan coast with all its traffickers, militias and prisons, amidst European concerns that seem to inconsistently hail, then turn a blind eye to the principles of human rights.
