Talk to Al Jazeera: In the Field

Gambia: The business of human trafficking

Mohammed Lamine Janneh, also known as L-Boy, discusses this lucrative trade.

According to the United Nations, 26,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in 2016, most of those who came from sub-Saharan Africa were Gambians.

Since 2013, at least 15,000 people have lost their lives trying to reach European shores. 

Undeterred, young men and women continue to take this route in what the UN describes as the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of our times. 

The UN estimates the illegal trade of people smuggling to be worth more than $35bn, and it is booming. 

Despite joint efforts by police forces from Europe and Africa, few smugglers have been arrested or prosecuted.

Mohammed Lamine Janneh, also known as L-Boy, is one such smuggler. For some, he is a hero: families save up for years and take loans in order to send one of their children on this journey.

But who profits from this? Do those making the journey understand the risks they are taking? How much do they pay for this journey?

L-Boy, guides us through the business of human trafficking, and explains why travelling to Europe through Libya or the “backway” as it is known here is an open secret.

Below an adapted transcript of the episode, that has been edited for clarity purposes.

Crossing Europe 

Al Jazeera: How many people did you help to cross to Europe? 

L-Boy: Around 1,000 migrants, from 2011 up to 2016.

Al Jazeera: Why are there so many people who want to go to Europe?

L-Boy: I think people normally try to go to Europe … because they are hopeless in their country. The unemployment rate is too high.

I cannot call it the illegal route. You know, when the other way is not possible, you use the other way

by L-Boy, human trafficker

You normally go to school, have your qualifications and you cannot have any job and normally those who should come here to create more employment for us were denied by the ex-president.

So that’s why people find it very difficult to survive here, so normally they use the “backway” to go to Europe to find a better life.

I call them economic migrants.

Al Jazeera: When you say “backway”, you mean the illegal route to Europe?

L-Boy: I cannot call it the illegal route. You know, when the other way is not possible, you use the other way. 

Al Jazeera: You say when the legal way is not possible?

L-Boy: I don’t say the legal way, but the normal way.

Initially, we had a shortage of embassies in Gambia, so to have the visa before was very difficult, because the former president was not cooperating very well with the Europeans.

So by then, the easiest way to access Europe, was to go through the other way, that is by land, but I cannot call it is an illegal way, because I don’t see it as illegal.

‘Mediator between them and the agents’ 

Al Jazeera: Tell me how did you help these people who want to go to Europe. What exactly did you do?

L-Boy: My role in the process was to be the mediator between them and the agents on the way. Like the agents at Mali, from Mali, you go to Niger.

From Niger, at the border there, Agadez. From Agadez to Saba and from Saba to Libya. So I got my own agents, on all those points, and all the money was paid to me.

We have experience, for me specifically, none of my people have died or get lost.

by L-Boy

I gave them my own receipt or my card with my telephone number, indicating that they have paid me.

So when they reached those points … they just needed to present my card, my card contained my number, and also my signature, so the agents … knew that these people came from me, so directly they would call me to confirm.

Al Jazeera: Did you help them to cross the Mediterranean?

L-Boy: Obviously, I did that also, because I got an agent that lives in Libya.

So when they reached there, that agent was working under me, so I just needed to contact the agent, and said, that the boy has already paid me, so the agent would give them a ticket so they can cross the Mediterranean.

Al Jazeera: When they made it across, if they made it across, did you help them on the European side?

L-Boy: Obviously, because normally, when they reached there, they still contacted me, to seek advice and also because I have been helping many people, who are already there, they are more experienced, so normally I used to link them with the people that went earlier. 

Most of them when they reach Italy, they don’t stay there, they find their way to other destinations like Germany, Finland, Sweden, Austria and other places.

Al Jazeera: But what if they don’t make it alive through the Mediterranean. What if they die on the route?

L-Boy: We have experience, for me specifically, none of my people died or got lost.

Normally, what I did experience is that they were at times kidnapped by the Arab people.

‘Kidnapped by Libyans’ 

Al Jazeera: So you say that once they are in Libya, they are kidnapped by Libyans?

L-Boy: Yeah, some are kidnapped, you know, normally, those Arabs … they raid their camps.

So when they raid the camp, they kidnap some of them, and take them to prison, or normally at their own local prison, so they used to be kidnapped at times.

They don’t need anything from them, the only thing they need from them is the money.

So they contacted me, and when they contacted me, I would also contact the parents or their sponsors … and we saw how best to take them out from those prisons or other detentions. 

Al Jazeera: This year alone International Organisations repatriated 800 Gambians that were detained in Libya.

Many are still being held in various detention centres across the country. 

For those that have come back to Gambia, it is an uneasy return home, ashamed to have come back to their families empty handed. 

‘How much would I have to pay you?’

Al Jazeera: If I wanted to go to Europe, to Italy and Germany, how much would I have to pay you?

L-Boy: $2,000

Al Jazeera: So it costs $2,000 to get from Banjul to the coast, shores of Europe?

L-Boy: Yeah, from Banjul up to Italy.

Nicolas: Who were the people that came to you asking to go to Europe?

L-Boy: Normally they were students, and some were unemployed youths, both boys and girls, to be specific most of them were teenagers.

Al Jazeera: Why do teenagers come to you to go to Europe?

L-Boy: It’s expectations, because they think once they are in Europe, they will have everything. The expectation is high, that when you are in Europe, you’ll have a better life, better living conditions, better education, better food to eat, and all the things. 

A dangerous trip

Al Jazeera: Which part of the journey is the most dangerous? 

L-Boy: From Saba to Tripoli became the most difficult one.

Al Jazeera: Why?

L-Boy: Because it is the desert. Initially, around 2012 to 2011, it only took them four days to move from Saba to Tripoli, but later in 2016, it took them about 3 weeks to enter Tripoli.

Al Jazeera: How much money have you made doing this? 

L-Boy: 1,000,000 Gambian dalasi ($21,800) 

Al Jazeera: Do you sometimes feel guilty for what you do?

I was helping the hopeless to enter Europe ... even their parents used to call me to thank me always

by L-Boy

L-Boy: To feel guilty? I don’t feel guilty. Instead of feeling guilty, I feel proud.

Al Jazeera: Why do you feel proud?

L-Boy: Because I was helping the hopeless to enter Europe, so when they are in Europe, they become more hopeful, and even [depended on] by their families here.

Even their parents used to call me to thank me always. Even still now, whenever they see me, they respect me, they honour me. They thank me. 

Al Jazeera: So this has really built your reputation in the community that you’ve helped at least some people to cross to Europe?

L-Boy: Yes, I can say it has increased my profile, but ever since I was a student, my profile was always high … but I can say it has increased my reputation in the society.