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[INTERNATIONAL] · Italy, Malta, Türkiye, Greece, Cyprus · 3 sources

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Part of situation: Global migrant smuggling and illicit finance (3 clusters)

Migrants paid up to $500 million in smuggling fees on European sea routes

human smuggling migration routes UNODC Mediterranean Sea IOM

Estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicate that fees paid to smugglers on maritime routes to Europe reached between $388 million and $509 million in 2025.

The Central Mediterranean route was the most active, with between 84,000 and 100,400 people attempting the crossing. An IOM survey found that nearly half of the migrants attempting to reach Italy or Malta from North Africa or Türkiye paid fees exceeding $7,500 per person.

Other major routes included: • Eastern Mediterranean: 48,400 to 51,300 people traveling from Türkiye, Libya, and the Middle East toward Greece, Cyprus, and Bulgaria. • Northwest African Atlantic: 33,000 people, where smugglers received as little as $170 per person for transport in open boats to Spain’s Canary Islands. • Western Mediterranean: 24,500 people connecting North and West Africa to Spain.

In total, between 190,000 and 209,000 people were smuggled across these four main routes in 2025. The UN reported that 3,404 people lost their lives or went missing during these journeys, while 104,200 individuals were intercepted at sea and returned.

Entities

Canary Islands · Central Mediterranean route · Europe · European Union · International Organization for Migration · Mediterranean Sea · United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Sources

Migrants paid up to $500 million in smuggling fees on European sea routes [www.africaglobalvillage.com]
تقرير أممي: نصف مليار دولار تكاليف عمليات التهريب إلى أوروبا | شبكة المشاهد الإعلامية [www.mushahide.com]
Migranci zapłacili do 500 milionów dolarów opłat za przemyt na europejskich szlakach morskich [tylkogliwice.pl]