Mannskap fra den Malta-baserte humanitære organisasjonen MOAS’ skip Phoenix plukker opp migranter fra en båt utenfor Sabratha, Libya 15. april i år. Statsadvokat Carmelo Zuccaro ved statsadvokatkontoret i Catania på Sicilia har tidligere sagt at MOAS og flere tyske NGO-er har direkte kontakt med smuglerne.(foto: Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

Humanitære organisasjoner betaler menneskesmuglere for å frakte migranter til sine ventende skip, hevder oberst i den libyske kystvakten.

Opplysningen er sjokkerende, selv om indikasjoner på at dette forekommer har versert en stund.

Oberstens opplysninger øker også bekymringen om at jihadister kan skjule seg blant migrantene, skriver Mail on Sunday, som brakte nyheten sent lørdag kveld.

Oberst Tarek Shanboor i den libyske kystvakten sier til Mail on Sunday at han har bevis for at humanitære organisasjoner betaler for migranter som er desperate etter å komme seg til Europa, men selv ikke har penger til å betale menneskesmuglerne.

Colonel Tarek Shanboor said he had obtained bank details and phone records that proved the charities were making payments to criminal gangs who have put hundreds of thousands of migrants into unseaworthy boats – leading to thousands of deaths each year.

Opplysningene er alarmerende, og forsterker frykten for at islamister kan blande seg med migrantene.

Shanboor forteller at kystvakten i et desperat forsøk på stoppe menneskesmuglingen har leid inn en Tripoli-basert milits til å patruljere kysten sammen med hans egen politistyrke.

‘This is a last-ditch attempt to stop the criminal trade along our coast. The Tajoura fighters should be able to dismantle the mafia groups. We are declaring war on the people smugglers this way,’ he said.

Også de humanitære NGO-ene patruljerer den libyske kysten, men hevder de kun er der for å redde migranter.

Obersten sier han har levert bevismateriale til EUs grensemyndighet i Brussel:

But Colonel Shanboor said aid agencies were now encouraging more and more migrants to make the perilous trip. He claimed he had handed evidence of collusion between charities and traffickers to EU border security officials in Brussels, though he refused to go into detail. Speaking exclusively to the MoS he said: ‘The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are adding to the crisis by actively encouraging increasing numbers of migrants. Now we have the evidence they are in cahoots with the smugglers. We have evidence the smugglers call the NGOs directly and there are business deals between them.’

Shanboor hevder NGO-ene betaler opptil 450 britiske pund – nesten 4.900 kroner – per migrant. Han sier han tror de mener det godt, men at de ikke desto mindre er på ville veier.

Col Shanboor’s extraordinary accusation comes just months after an internal EU report revealed charity officials in boats were in direct contact with migrant vessels and even gave them precise directions to find rescue vessels. This year has already seen record numbers of migrants attempting the perilous crossing from Libya to Lampedusa and Sicily, turning Italy into the front line of the crisis.

Som Document har omtalt har sicilianske statsadvokater startet etterforskning om hopehav mellom menneskesmuglere og humanitære organisasjoner. Organisajonene har blitt beskyldt for å forsterke migrasjonskrisen.

Last month, about 1,500 migrants – among them hundreds of children and pregnant women – were rescued from rickety vessels by one of the charities, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). And a leaked intelligence report suggested more than six million asylum seekers, including Syrians fleeing civil war, are waiting to cross into Europe.

Mail on Sunday: Charities ‘pay people traffickers’: Libyan coastguard’s astonishing claim… cash handed to criminal gangs so they ‘deliver’ refugees