The lines between migration and human trafficking all too easily converge. While migration implies a level of individual choice, migrants are sometimes detained and even tortured by the people they pay to lead them across borders.

Following the cash across borders - through a network of kingpins, spotters, drivers and enforcers - is central to understanding how this opaque and complex business works.

Everyone agrees there is not enough data. No one knows how many migrants are smuggled.

However, enough is known about the money paid - by Eritreans, Syrians, Rohingya, and Afghans, among others - to demonstrate it is a multimillion-dollar business.

As Europe debates measures ranging from military attacks to destroying smugglers' boats to increasing asylum places, what more can be done to prosecute those profiting at the crossroads of dreams and despair?

How much do migrants pay?
The cost varies depending on the distance, destination, level of difficulty, method of transport (air travel is dearer and requires fake documents) and whether the migrant has personal links to the smugglers, or decides to work for them.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says journeys in Asia can cost from a few hundred dollars up to $10,000 (£6,422) or more.

For Mexicans wanting to enter the US, fees can run to $3,500, while Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean can pay up to $1,000, and Syrians up to $2,500.

Abu Hamada, 62, a Syrian-Palestinian refugee, reckons he has earned about £1.5m ($2.3m) over six months by smuggling people across the Mediterranean from Egypt.

A place on a boat from Turkey to Greece costs between €1,000 and €1,200(£700 and £840), say migrants. Afghans pay between €10,000 and €11,000 to get to Hungary, which includes help from smugglers. Continue reading

Sources

• Clár Ní Chonghaile is a freelance reporter based in London. She has worked as a journalist in Paris, Madrid, London, Abidjan, Dakar and, most recently, Nairobi. The article above is from The Guardian.
• Image: bitlanders

Monsignor Cristobal Garcia is quoted in the October issue of the magazine as describing how to bring ivory figurines into the United States.

Monsignor Garcia is already the subject of sexual abuse allegations involving an altar boy in Los Angeles in the US during the 1980s which prompted the Vatican to suspend him this year pending the conclusion of an investigation.

Sixto Comia of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation said authorities are investigating the origin of ivory icons. Garcia will also be questioned.

An international ban on trade in ivory and elephant tusks has been in effect since 1990. But poaching for the black market is rife and endangering elephant populations.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines said it regretted not doing more to stamp out illegal ivory used to produce religious symbols.

Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu said he has directed the Archdiocesan Commission on the Cultural Heritage of the Church to conduct an inventory of the collection.

"Let it be made clear that the Church supports the ban on ivory as it is consistent with her doctrine on stewardship of creation," said Palma.

He said the church "does not condone ivory smuggling or other illegal activities, although in the past, ivory was one of the materials used in the adornment of liturgical worship."

Garcia, who is based in Talisay city in Cebu province, is reportedly ill and in a hospital.

He was expelled from the Dominican order in 1986 after he allegedly sexually abused an altar boy in Los Angeles. He remains a priest but Palma said Garcia's "past" case is being investigated by the Vatican.

Sources

• AP/SunStar
• UCA News
• CNN
• Image: National Geographic