Ticket to death

USPA NEWS - The death of 71 refugees, reportedly suffocated inside a refrigerated truck abandoned on a highway in Austria, has confirmed the existence of routes used by traffickers. European governments declare themselves powerless to contain them.

The wars in Africa and the Middle East have led to a constant flood of refugees fleeing conflict and want to get in the rich Europe. Some get it but many die in the attempt. The Italian Coast Guard in the thousands of refugees and hundreds intercepting the bodies found. But Italy is not the only gateway in Europe. East Turkey, Spain and the west and the coast of the Balkans in the middle of the Old Continent are powerless to stem the tide of people coming to their territories.

The governments of the European community say there are not enough police to seal its borders, but keep quiet about their responsibility for the problem. When, last July, the European Commission proposed distributing the refugees among member countries of the EU, several countries refused to accept it. These are the same governments that for years have been blind to the problem of people-trafficking mafias.

Now, with the bodies of 59 men, eight women and four children -a girl aged three years old and three children between 8 and 11 years-, probably Syrian, since it has found an identity of that nationality, even in the morgue, governments across Europe are shocked at the same speed with which new data on the modus operandi of the gangs are revealed. The Austrian Police confirmed on Friday the arrest of three people allegedly responsible for the death of 71 refugees. This is the truck owner, of Lebanese origin but with Bulgarian passport, and the two drivers, one Bulgarian and one Romanian. Another person of Afghan origin have been arrested in Romania.

The four are part of the lowest rung of the business of trafficking, warned the Austrian Police. A Spanish journalist in Belgrade could speak with a dealer. Mistaking a refugee and therefore with a potential customer, the dealer explained that across Central Europe with destination Vienna costs 1,500 Euros. Police in Austria raised that amount to 3,000 Euros per person. This amount ensures a long journey crammed into a closed and airless truck. Exit few minutes to breathe clean air means paying an extra that most refugees can not afford. No wonder, therefore, that the 71 unfortunate passengers of a truck had just suffocated. But that traffickers do not care.

Yes they are concerned, however, that the Police can intercept the truck and find the money paid by refugees. So drivers no longer carry the money over, but collected before starting the journey. They also worry about transporting minors: "No babies. The biggest problem are the babies,“ says a smuggler and recalls the case of a baby who were about to give up for dead, which would have been a serious problem for their organization. "Believe me, we thought he was dead", he insists. Since then, no longer supported newborns among its passengers.

A human traffickers are only interested in collecting the money they pay those who want to enter Europe. They reach their destination safely or die by the way do not always worry that received before starting the journey. They hold a business worth billions of Euros and that is the same worldwide. The Mediterranean, the Mexico-US border... Europe is crossed from north to south and from east to west by roads along which caravans with impunity death.