Ioannis Michaletos & Chris Deliso (Balkan Analysis) - The much-discussed illegal immigration phenomenon in Greece presents a security challenge to the country and to Europe in general, and this is the aspect of the issue most discussed in the national and global media. However, human trafficking is also a major financial industry in its own right, estimated in the billions of euros. The revenues and services that characterize this industry are both legal and illegal, and astonishingly enough are generated from activities performed all the way from Brussels to Bangladesh.
Indeed, it is the broad convergence of organized crime, the gray economy, politics and white-collar activities that truly characterizes the Greek human trafficking industry, making it an indispensable part of overlapping licit and illicit economies for many countries- making it a key global industry today.
The following structural analysis of the issue does not consider the security aspect, which is also fundamentally involved with the wealth transfer system that characterizes it. Rather, as we have presented assessments of the security aspect in previous years, we can now concentrate on the structure of organized crime and distinguish its actors and locations, and differentiate its activities, reaching some financial value estimates in the process. Further, we will consider the other beneficiaries of the phenomenon, which include law-abiding Greek citizens employed across the whole run of the public and private sectors.
Finally, we will note the financial benefit of immigration on political parties and local and foreign officials, activists and administrators. The vital financial contribution that the illegal immigration sector makes to these groups is almost never considered, precisely because the ‘legitimate’ actors tend to frame the entire public discourse on the issue.
Since they also control the effective administration of, and reactions to the industry, these entities do not like to draw attention to the fact that they are, in a very tangible and existential way, dependent on the continuation of the criminal industry.
Illegal Immigration in Greece: Structure and Major Transit Routes
Illegal immigration in Greece is mainly characterized by its transitory nature. Greece is the central axis in the “Anatolian geopolitical corridor,” collecting and distributing Asian, Middle Eastern and African immigrant masses into the EU, through primarily Italy but also the Balkans.
The process, which has been developing over the past 25 years and in particular over the last decade, is also marked by a distinct and heavy presence of transnational smuggling networks which are more or less interwoven with the criminal structures that deal in narcotics, arms and counterfeit products between East and West.
Immigrants travel from their home countries via established land routes. Thus Afghans and Pakistanis tend to follow the route via Iran to Turkey, whereas Syrians and Iraqis cross over from their northern neighboring country.
In other land-entry cases, immigrants from further away (including North Africa and Nigeria) often travel to Turkey via air, a phenomenon aided by the visa relaxation process of the Erdogan government, which seems to have ambitions to make Turkey the center of an eventual ‘Islamic Schengen Zone.’ Chinese, Burmese and Vietnamese immigrants also travel by air routes, mostly to Istanbul. (Of course, as has been seen in the last years, a majority of North African migrants travel by ship on the hazardous journey to Italy and occasionally Greece).
Networks and Transport
The first step in the process, and thus the first player in the overall industry, is the external syndicate structure that transports migrants from other countries towards the Greek borders. The major center of these crime groups is Turkey, though not only Turkish nationals participate.
In the major cities of Turkey and in particular in Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Edirne and Mersin, as well as all the ones close to the tri-border corridor with Iran, Iraq and Syria, well-formed smuggling networks quickly assemble prospective “clients” and arrange transfers. Depending on the economic situation of each immigrant, his time schedule and the number of groups assembled, a long march via trucks, vehicles and trains takes form onwards to the Aegean shores. An alternative route to the Thracian land border along the River Evros has been greatly reduced due to fences constructed by Greek and Bulgaria authorities. Nevertheless, this land route is still active to some degree.
Thus given the recent land transport restrictions, immigrants are mostly transferred via the use of small boats from the Aegean coast and, in the cases of the Marmara Sea and the Turkish Mediterranean coasts, by old vessels carrying up to 1,000 people. In any case a smooth flow of around 250 people on a daily basis is ensured, which equals more than 90,000 incoming migrants per year in Greece alone. Depending on weather conditions, the authories’ counteractions and the iron law of supply and demand, numbers fluctuate from less than 30 to over 600 migrants per day.
Immigrant Arrival in Greece and Internal Redistribution
Once immigrants are in Greece, most of them are intercepted by the Coast Guard or Police border guards. The present law requires all of them to be identified, and then to be given a 30-day temporary permit before they are obliged to leave the country.
Almost none of them abide by this clause, however, having already been well informed about how to get to the major urban centers and especially Athens. In many instances smuggling networks have already placed their own correspondents in the Greek islands or near the borders, who take them in the ‘right direction.’
Social Categorizations of Migrants
While casual observers tend to view all immigrants as the same, they are actually divided into stratified social classes within the greater immigrant population in Greece, depending on various factors. Thus a sort of ‘caste system’ exists, one with its own rules and obligations.
Once arriving in the urban metropolis of Athens, immigrants are classified according to their economic and social status. Those with little money quickly become “soldiers” of essentially ethnic mafia groups, forced to sell counterfeit products, small doses of drugs, work in makeshift garment production facilities, cleaning, tourism support and so forth. The rest are usually people who have relatives or friends already established in Greece or in other EU countries, and arrange for them to find a shelter or send them money via Western Union and similar cash transaction platforms. Odd jobs, and in many instances, small-time street criminality are also combined.
The vast majority of both the above categories have the goal of getting into the general European Schengen Zone, and just use Greece as the first basic stop on the journey. Anecdotal and empirical research point out that all are aware of the low employment opportunities in Greece, and thus that their original aim is specific countries of Northern Europe such as Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The Next Network in the Process: External Traffickers and Domestic Logistical Support Structures
At this stage another type of smuggling network comes into places: the one transporting people from Athens, a peripheral illegal immigration hub of European importance, further into Europe.
This sector of crime utilizes a thriving forged papers market (for EU-country identity cards and passports). The interlude period during which the immigrants are in “limbo” provides further secondary roles for migrants, and income for housing slum lords, providers of sexual services, narcotics and cheap tobacco suppliers for a large number of predominantly young Asian and African males. The cheap prostitution of migrant women also necessarily involves the participation of Greek male ‘consumers.’
Organized crime in Greece has literally boomed over the past 10 years, in large part due to the opportunities involved in getting access to the in-transit and outgoing smuggling networks. In Athens, these tend to be dominated by Greeks, Albanians, Pakistanis and Kurds of different nationalities.
Further, the Syrian crisis has created a new Syrian smuggling base as well. Egyptians and Bulgarians are also getting into this illicit sector in larger numbers, usually having secondary illegal sector involvement at the same time.
Also involved are ‘Pontian’ Georgians, who ironically were among the first to ‘come home’ to Greece after the end of the USSR, legally nationalized in the 1990s by the Greek state, at the same time that Turkey was making its own strategic opening with its ‘long-lost kin’ in Central Asia. The Georgians’ native connections in the Caucasus and Black Sea areas also presented ideal conditions for a small number of them to expand the reach of Greek organized crime.
Wider Greek Societal Involvement in the Immigration Business- and the Industry’s Financial Scale
It is by no means only foreigners or adopted minorities who are involved in this crime sector, however. Greeks have an essential, if often subtle or indirect, role to play to make the whole process run smoothly. It has to be noted that seemingly legal professionals such as attorneys, municipal state officers, policemen, taxi and truck drivers and small shop owners are also involved by assisting or supporting the phenomena, due to the need for their services by the smuggling networks at different stages of the process.
A rough estimation is that each of the 90,000 average annual migrants, in the past year alone, generated some 20,000 euros worth of gross labor product into the shadow economy, in both illegal and legal sectors. That’s 1.8 billion euros in all, and not even counting the vast amounts of cash (paid or to-be paid) in transfers outside the country at the entry stage or remittances.
It is estimated that at least half of the 90,000 annual immigrants manage to “escape” each generating an additional 5,000 euros per head for services to exit-route smugglers and the other auxiliary sectors mentioned. That is an additional 450 million euros, bringing the grand total of the human trafficking sector in Greece to approximately 2.2 billion euros annually. And even this estimate is a very conservative one, considering that the revenue breakdown concerns just the annual ‘new crop’ of migrants, without accounting for the pre-existing and “trapped” ones. Although the numbers fluctuate, there are roughly one million illegal immigrants living in Greece at any given time.
It is thus very difficult to quantify the true reach of illegal immigration smuggling in the county, due to the impossibility of identifying the total scope of interactions and inter linkage between the licit and illicit sectors that make the whole process run smoothly. But certainly the money involved is substantial.
Read more - balkanalysis.com
We also propose that you read several other articles that were featured by HellasFrappe on this subject from the list below:
Click HERE for complete category with numerous articles
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/search/label/TRAFFICKING
Major human trafficking case opens in Athens, 23 allegedly involved
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2015/04/major-human-trafficking-case-opens-in.html
The EU’s Dirty Secret: Trafficking & The Sex Trade - Worth BILLIONS
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/02/the-eus-dirty-secret-trafficking-sex.html
Oh Brother - George Soros backed Amnesty Int.'l Against Greece on issue of illegal immigrants
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/04/oh-brother-goerge-soros-backed-amnesty.html
Balkan Mafias Broaden Their Reach Via Greece
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/02/balkan-mafias-broaden-their-reach-via.html
BUSTED - Police Officials Crack Down On Major Human Trafficking Gang
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/05/busted-police-officials-crack-down-on.html
Officials Dismantle Yet Another Migrant-Trafficking Gang
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/07/officials-dismantle-yet-another-migrant.html
Albanian Mafia Operated Black-Market "Baby Factories" Even in Athens! - MUST READ
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/10/albanian-mafia-operated-black-market.html
SPECIAL REPORT - Human Trafficking Of Women & Children On The Rise In Both Europe & N.America
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/10/special-report-human-trafficking-of.html
Greek Prostitution Soars By A Whopping 150%, As Youth Unemployment Skyrockets
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/05/greek-prostitution-soars-by-whopping.html
SPECIAL REPORT: Dramatic rise in prostitution by foreigners + sex-related diseases (Greek Documentary)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2011/07/special-report-dramatic-rise-in.html
Prostitution And Trafficking On The Streets Of Athens
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2011/11/sunday-at-movies-prostitution-and.html
More & More Drug Addicts in Greece Turn To The New "Poor Man's Cocaine" Shisha (VIDEO)
About the authors: Ioannis Michaletos is Balkanalysis.com Research Coordinator for Greece, and an independent analyst in Athens, covering issues ranging from political, security and energy-sector developments in the region to intelligence, counter-terrorism and organized crime. HellasFrappe has featured many articles from Mr. Ioannis Michelatos whose reports are not only frequently cited by our blog, and the Greek media, but by participates in international events as well, (recently he was a speaker for the NATO Defense School in Oberammergau, Germany). At present he is also a well respected security and energy affairs analyst at the Institute for Security and Defence Analysis in Athens. The second author, Chris (Christopher) Deliso, is the founder and director of Balkanalysis.com. Originally from the United States, he has spent considerable time in the Balkans since 1998, living in three regional countries and traveling widely for research as a journalist, analyst and travel writer. Currently based in Skopje, Chris writes on a variety of subjects including Balkan political developments and social trends, regional security and intelligence, counter-terrorism and organized crime, as well as regional history, travel, tourism and culture. Aside from directing Balkanalysis.com research and editorial processes, Chris contributes articles, interviews and briefings for the website, and also leads event planning and other relevant initiatives. If you are interested in similar articles, or want an in depth scope on a wider range of Greece security-sector issues, those interested should consider looking for the Studies in Greek Security 2006-2011 report which is featured on Amazon Kindle.
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