Authorities battle migrant smugglers at Patra port
Smuggling undocumented migrants onto ferries from the western Greek port of Patra to Italy has netted human trafficking rings at least 600,000 euros in the first half of the year, authorities estimate.
Coast guard and police sources tell Kathimerini that 206 people have been arrested in the six-month period for presenting false papers, for which buyers pay 1,000-1,500 euros.
Authorities have also arrested 168 undocumented migrants who were found hidden in secret compartments of trucks or among their cargo, often risking their lives, after paying smugglers between 500 and 1,000 euros.
Increased measures to crack down on the rings that help secure passage deeper into the European Union in the first half of the year led to 70 arrests of suspected smugglers, though police and coast guard sources admit that they are mostly from the lower ranks of the rackets’ hierarchies.
Of rising concern is the phenomenon of mass storming, where dozens of migrants will try to board a ferry at once. Such efforts have been unsuccessful so far, authorities say, though they add this is mainly because migrant numbers in Patra remain somewhat controllable despite the huge wave of refugees that has hit the islands of the Aegean.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid groups have sought to allay concerns regarding sanitation conditions at an abandoned factory complex near the port that is home to an estimated 300 undocumented migrants looking for a chance to make the crossing.
“The argument being spread that these people are a public health hazard is a complete myth,” Christina Tampakopoulou, a member of the Patra Movement for the Defense of Refugee and Migrant Rights, tells Kathimerini, stressing that both the Red Cross and Doctors of the World have teams working in the area.
