EVIDENCE of how the 275 illegal immigrants whose boat sank off Paphos paid up to each for their passage and were duped into believing they would be taken from Lebanon to Italy was heard at Paphos district court yesterday.
As discussions continued between Cyprus and Beirut on the fate of the illegal immigrants, new evidence revealed in court by the doomed vessel’s captain said the trawler used to carry them had sailed from Lebanon.
The court heard that the Turkish captain, Farah Mohammad Ibrahim, 28, had revealed the names, addresses and nationalities of people running the illegal transport ring in Lebanon.
Reports said the captain also told the court that the immigrants had to pay up to each for the journey to Italy. But, said Ibrahim, what the immigrants did not know was that the plan agreed with the vessel’s owners was to dump them on the island of Crete. Ibrahim said the trawler’s owners reside in Syria.
Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou yesterday said the captain’s testimony was the key to cracking the case, adding that it was now proved beyond doubt that the trawler had sailed from Lebanon.
Beirut had refused to have the immigrants returned to Lebanon, despite a bilateral agreement, unless they received conclusive evidence that the boat sailed from its shores. The 275 immigrants are currently held on a small cruise ship of the coast of Limassol.
Meanwhile, authorities said yesterday that the 35 immigrants – 13 of them women — found drifting in a boat on Thursday in international waters off Cape Greco, in the Famagusta district, had intentionally caused a malfunction to the vessel’s engine, with the aim of landing in Cyprus. A fisherman spotted the vessel and immediately notified the authorities who scrambled a helicopter and a patrol boat.
The immigrants had pleaded for help, saying their boat had a problem and they could not start the engine to proceed to Italy as planned. Authorities yesterday said they could not fix the engine so they transferred the immigrants to another boat and stocked it with food, water, and medicine, enough for the immigrants to return to Syria which is believed to be their port of origin.
But, said the Cyprus authorities, the immigrants again spoke of engine problems, prompting marine police to tow them out to international waters.
The authorities said that when the illegal immigrants realised what was going on, they cut the rope, started the engine of the 40-foot trawler and headed back to Cyprus. They were intercepted by the patrol boat 18 nautical miles east of Cape Greco, and later it was reported that the boat had sailed for Lebanon, accompanied by Cyprus marine police who were escorting the immigrants to Lebanese waters.
