Migrant traffickers changing tactics

The deadly pursuit of migrant traffickers by a Coast Guard patrol boat off the southeastern Aegean island of Symi on Friday has put the spotlight on a conflict raging near Greece’s sea borders.

The change in the mode of operation of smuggling rackets, which are now using high speed boats to approach the east Aegean islands, and the recruitment of motivated and often armed operators, have sparked a succession of heated incidents. This has been one of the factors that has led to the increase in migration flows from Turkey to Greece, especially during the summer. “We’re no longer dealing with cheap inflatable dinghies with small motors but boats that were used in the past by drug and contraband cigarette trafficking rings,” a Cost Guard official told Kathimerini.

The Symi incident led to the death of one migrant when a crew member of a Greek patrol boat opened fire on the trafficker speedboat to immobilize it. Greek authorities said the shots were fired after the speedboat rammed the patrol boat. According to Coast Guard data, it was just one of at least 200 incidents of migrant trafficking from Turkey using speedboats since the beginning of the year. In many cases, these incidents entail the ramming of Coast Guard patrol boats by traffickers, as well as a shootouts.

Last week was no exception.

On early Tuesday morning, a Coast Guard boat conducting a regular patrol north of Oinousses spotted an inflatable speedboat carrying 25 migrants heading towards the coast of Chios. At the sight of the Coast Guard, the speedboat’s 33-year-old Turkish pilot attempted to flee by performing risky maneuvers. The speedboat was eventually brought to a halt with the help of a second Coast Guard vessel that arrived on the scene.

A similar incident transpired on Monday night in the Diapori sea area near Leros when a Coast Guard patrol boat detected a speedboat carrying 29 Syrian and Egyptian migrants racing towards the island’s coast. A chase ensued, with the Coast Guard vessel calling out over loudspeakers to the speedboat pilot to stop. Instead, he accelerated and ran aground on a rocky shore in the Xirokambos district of Leros. The migrants were transferred to the closed facility of Leros, while the speedboat’s operators, a 21-year-old Egyptian and a 28-year-old Palestinian, were taken into custody..