26 August 2023 , 06:21
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People smugglers who lure refugees on to death-trap dinghies call the perilous Channel crossing “the game”.
The gangs, branded “the mafia” by volunteers working with migrants in northern France, usually charge up to £5,000 for the journey but have dropped fees as low as £1,000 to keep boats full. But faced with hostility from our government, those fleeing for their lives from repressive regimes feel these criminals are their only allies.
At a large camp in Dunkirk, Murtaza Malikzada, a fluent English speaker whose policeman dad worked with UK forces in Afghanistan in the war on terror, said: “The smugglers are actually the only ones helping us. We have no other options. Where should we go? What should we do?”
Migrants at the camp, mostly from the Middle East, await orders from smugglers lurking nearby. The camp was bursting with families earlier this month as unsettled weather made crossings difficult, but has emptied as calmer conditions allowed many to make the journey.
Murtaza may be family’s last hope (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)Murtaza, 27, who has paid around £1,300 to be taken to the UK, said: “They get 40 or 50 of us when it’s time to go, and they say, ‘Let’s go, the game is on.’ Tomorrow, it is my turn to play the game.” His previous four attempts have failed, including on Tuesday when he says French police met migrants with tear gas on the beaches.
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For Murtaza it is a race against time to reach the UK so he can try to find safety for his family. His father Abdul Ghafoor, who was a police colonel in Afghanistan and helped coalition forces in the war on terror, was forced to flee the Taliban and is now understood to be in Pakistan. Murtaza’s younger brother Mustafa, 17, was badly injured after being targeted by a Taliban explosive due to his dad’s work.
Murtaza contacted British embassies in Pakistan and Iran with documents proving his father’s previous position, and that he is fleeing for his life, but got no response. So his family scraped together around £9,000 for Murtaza to make the treacherous journey from Kabul to the UK. He is perhaps their last hope of safety.
Abdul Ghafoor helped UK forces (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)
Mustafa was injured in Taliban attack (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)He is aware of our Government’s hostile position on refugees and of the Bibby Stockholm barge to house asylum seekers. But he is not deterred by this, nor by deaths in the Channel this month. The official toll was six but Murtaza claims it was many more. He said: “Two friends who survived it told me 25 people died. Of course we’re scared. We’re human beings. But there is no other option.”
In the camp, near the Grande-Synthe suburb of Dunkirk, families clutch food provided by charities. Kurdish Syrians Behzad, 28, his wife Avin, 24, and two-year-old daughter Yara travelled for around four months to reach northern France. They too await the call from the smugglers to make the journey across the world’s busiest shipping lane.
The smugglers even charge for Yara’s place on a boat – she will travel half price. Behzad, who worked as a welder back home, said: “My family has all passed away. We are bombed, we are targeted. We have no life. I want a future for my daughter.” Eritreans Binyam, 32, and wife Selam 28, were kidnapped in Libya as they made their way to Europe.
Behzad, Avin and two-year-old Yara (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)They were held for a year with daily beatings until their families paid for their release. Binyam said: “We just want a chance to have a life, that’s all.” The UK’s asylum backlog is at a record high with 175,000 people awaiting a decision on their initial application – up 44% in a year. But Murtaza said: “Whatever it takes once I arrive – two years, four years, eight years – I will do that time. I need to do this for my family.”
The Ministry of Defence said: “We have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme – a commitment we will honour.”