A notorious people smuggler who went by the name Scorpion had long evaded prosecution for his role in transporting thousands of migrants across the English Channel. Even though a Belgian court convicted Barzan Majeed, as he is known, in his absence of 121 counts of people-smuggling, authorities had been unable to track him down. However, after being interviewed by BBC journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan, Majeed was arrested days later by local police, raising questions as to how journalists could succeed where the authorities had failed.
The answer lies in bureaucratic barriers that prevent law enforcement agencies in different countries from cooperating effectively. However, Majeed’s arrest has raised hopes that more collaboration will take place, leading to more successful arrests. Before his trial in absentia, British police had worked with Belgian counterparts in an investigation of Majeed, and a senior Kurdish official said that UK police had been invited to question him in Iraq. The Belgian public prosecutor who compiled the case against Majeed also revealed that European investigators had given Iraqi officials the names of other convicted high-level smugglers.
The arrest shocked the smuggling world and has made other smugglers nervous. One operator told a former soldier who works with refugees that he had considered himself untouchable before the arrest. Despite this, bureaucratic barriers continue to hinder progress in curtailing the people-smuggling trade, which is driven by poverty, economic hopelessness and, more recently, deaths during crossings. There are many cases where governments fail to take concerted action to tackle the problem, and criminal gangs exploit weaknesses in international legal frameworks.
There has been some progress in international law enforcement collaboration. For example, Britain and Turkey agreed to develop a centre of excellence to increase intelligence-sharing between enforcement agencies. However, progress in enforcing such agreements has been slow and painstaking, particularly with countries like Iran, Cambodia and Vietnam. Lawyers and human rights campaigners complain that governments could be doing more to support and strengthen the economic opportunities of the countries that migrants seek to leave
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