Migrant crossing: Kurdish journey agent thinks about Channel deaths each day however defends his position in community | World Information

The Kurdish travel agent, responsible for 10 of the people who died crossing the canal last month, told Sky News it thinks of the dead every day and defends its role on the network.

“Even if we don’t participate, the process will still take place,” he said.

“As an agency in Kurdistan and Iraq, we only hold the money. They (the migrants) deposit the money here. A relative of the person comes and says I will deposit this amount of money for a specific smuggler to help my son cross for example Turkey to Italy, Belarus to Germany or France to Great Britain.

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The Kurdish travel agency was responsible for 10 of the migrants who were on the boat that sank

Eyewitness: Transitions continue despite the station’s tragedy

“You just keep the money with us. When they arrive at their destination, we’ll give the money to the smuggler. If they don’t arrive, the family demands the money back.

“We guarantee your money so you don’t lose it to smugglers or whoever doesn’t guarantee your money.”

When asked if he felt guilty for what happened last month, the agent said it was painful for the entire community.

“Believe me, I’ve thought about you for so many nights and so many days. I would always call France to check your situation and see where you were,” he said.

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The agent said he thinks about the deceased every day

“I called your brother and asked for you. I called her relatives. We are very sad about it, but there is no way to get out.

“The difficulty of living in the country, most of the people who leave here have degrees. They have completed their education. They threw themselves in the water because they had no other option, it makes you realize how painful it is not to benefit from it. ” of all the resources in your country.

“You raise them since you were a child and watch them grow and then send them to drown with your own money – they were our own brothers.”

Almost all victims of the canal tragedy have been identified

The agents are the intermediaries in the global smuggling network. They mostly work from small offices in cities in the Middle East – they are trusted by the smugglers and the migrants and their families.

They rarely give interviews in front of the camera. From a town in the Kurdish-controlled north, the agent said he had protected families’ investments and prevented smugglers from stealing families.

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He told Sky News that migrants will pay between £ 2,000 and £ 2,300

“There weren’t always agencies or cell phones, but people still smuggled out of here. People had no choice but to put the money in their pockets and give it to the smuggler there,” he said

“Most of the time, the smugglers hid from them after taking the money and they never got to their destination. The migrant had no choice but to take the money with him or his relatives had to find the smuggler’s house and take the money with them.

“We made it easy for both sides so that the money would not be lost.”

The agent is always on the phone when we’re in his office. He arranges the passage of five young Kurds for that night. They each pay between £ 2,000 and £ 2,300 to cross.

Canal migrants are still being held under “inadequate” conditions

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The smugglers change their phone numbers every day

“We don’t have a permanent connection with them, they call us and not every day. For example, it depends on the work.

“If the weather is good today, they call. They change their phone numbers every day. He calls me one number today and another after two days.

“We don’t have their numbers, but they’ll call us later and say I’m that person and give us the names of people who put their money in to deposit.”