26 arrested in occupied areas for smuggling illegals south
THE lawyer representing three of the 26 people – ten of them police officers – arrested in the north over the past few days for people trafficking said yesterday he had reason to believe the smuggling ring’s line of command “included some very high ranking officers”.
The smuggling ring, which sources said had “long been in operation”, was smashed over the weekend as Turkish Cypriot police moved in on fellow police officers and civilians believed to be involved.
Police said they had evidence that the ring operated by bringing illegal immigrants from Turkey into northern Cyprus, and then across the Green Line into the government-controlled areas. Those being smuggled are believed to be mostly from the Middle East and southeast Asia.
But Altan Erdag, the lawyer representing three of the suspects, one of whom is a police officer, told the Mail yesterday the ring included high-ranking officers who had not been arrested.
“My client says staff at immigration offices received faxes from high-ranking officers who gave the order to let certain people through,” Erdag said.
He added that his client was innocent and that the reason why so many police had been arrested was so that it would become impossible for the police to carry out an anti-corruption purge among its ranks.
“You can sack three or four policemen, but you can’t sack 20 so easily,” he said.
Erdag added that sources had revealed that people smuggling was widespread in the north and was generally organised by the ring’s main movers in Turkey, with a considerable role played by police in the north.
“You get people getting into Turkey from Syria or Georgia as tourists. Whether or not Turkey allows them to enter is at the discretion of the immigration authorities there. If the officers on duty are told to let certain individuals through, they have to obey. They are then flown into north Cyprus. However, before they fly an order comes to the immigration police on duty ordering them to let certain people into the country.”
Once in the north, Erdag says, the illegal immigrants are taken to a hostel. Then they are smuggled into the south.
“Either a taxi driver comes from the south to get them, or they are escorted across fields into the south. And from there the immigrants can easily travel to anywhere the want in Europe,” he said.
Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail they had known for years about the existence of an immigrant smuggling ring in the north.
“This is not news for us. For years we have been stating that there was a human trafficking ring working in the north in league with another ring in Istanbul. We have also made a lot of arrests of illegal immigrants in the south that have filtered into the free areas via the route from Istanbul and the north.”
Erdag added that money was paid to the police and other civilians involved at each stage of the journey.
“A low ranking police officer will get a couple of hundred pounds. The high-ranking officers get more”.
At Monday’s court hearing in north Nicosia several of the most recently arrested were ordered to remain in custody for seven days.
Police inspector Zafer Amca, who is leading the case against the 26, warned there could be further arrests in the days to come.
