Tunisia new hub for migrants, smugglers like Ibrahim at the center

Tunisia has become the main point of departure for migrants seeking to enter the European Union. Of all the migrants who arrived in Italy in the first few months, more than 13,000 boarded a boat in Tunisia: more than ten times more than last year.

This is the golden age of smugglers helping migrants cross the Mediterranean. The NOS spoke to someone who can talk about it: ‘Ibrahim’, who just wants to tell anonymously how the smugglers work.

In the video he tells his story and you see the horrors at sea:

According to Ibrahim, more and more risks are taken. Besides Tunisians, there are now also African smugglers helping people from their own country. But they don’t know the sea – with all the associated risks.

More than 200 migrants have drowned off the Tunisian port of Sfax in the past ten days. Bodies wash daily. The city morgue is overcrowded, the gravediggers can barely cope with the work.

The European Union is deeply concerned about the large number of migrants arriving. More and more countries, including the Netherlands, want agreements with Tunisia to stop migration. In 2016, the EU concluded a similar agreement with Turkey. This country received more than six billion euros to arrest people.