Human smugglers operate as ’independent traders’, study finds

First study to model the organisation behind trade in illegal border crossings shows no "Mafia-like" monopoly of routes from Africa into Europe via Mediterranean. Instead, myriad independent smugglers compete in open markets that have emerged at every stage of the journey. This is a far cry from how Mafia-like organisations operate - Paolo Campana Latest research shows a lack of overarching coordination or the involvement of any "kingpin"-style monopolies in the criminal operations illegally transporting people from the Horn of Africa into Northern Europe via Libya. Instead, transnational smuggling routes were found to be highly segmented: each stage a competitive marketplace of "independent and autonomous" smugglers - as well as militias and kidnappers - that must be negotiated by migrants fighting for a life beyond the Mediterranean Sea. The first "network analysis" of this booming criminal enterprise suggests that successful smugglers need a reputation among migrants - and that removing any individual smuggler will only result in rivals immediately seizing their "market share". Dr Paolo Campana from Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology conducted the research using evidence from the 18-month investigation by Italian prosecutors that followed the Lampedusa shipwreck, in which 366 people lost their lives.