The message issued by court yesterday in the jailing of three people accused of attempting to organise a human smuggling mission was important and should serve as a deterrent.
Three people, two Maltese and an Algerian national, were sentenced to a total of 12 years imprisonment for attempting to ferry 24 people over to Italy. The plan was intricate. The hopeful immigrants paid fees in the region of $400 to be taken from Malta to Italy. A woman gave shelter to the would be travellers, before they were picked up by a Maltese man to be transported to a location by the sea. Luckily, the police intercepted them.
Unfortunately, living in the society we live in, it is very easy to hide people. They can be hidden in one of the many holiday flats around Malta and they are literally locked away.
We have heard numerous stories in court about people being locked in basements and houses, not just told to stay indoors, but literally being locked inside. Being as petrified as they are, these people obey and wait quietly. In other cases, we have also heard stories about Maltese people beating people and pushing them into the waters close to Sicily, even when they don’t know how to swim.
What can one say about such kind and hospitable Maltese people… they are quite frankly sick, and devoid of humanity to be capable of perpetrating such acts. The court was fully justified in sentencing people involved in human trafficking to a prison term. One of course hopes that there will be no reduction of punishment when these people lodge their appeal, which they no doubt will do. Malta is in a crisis – trying to cope with the influx of irregular arrivals, which seems to have abated for a while. But one can be sure that once the weather settles, they will begin to arrive again.
If these immigrants hear on the grapevine that they can come to Malta and be taken to Italy, you can bet your last dollar that they will be incentivised to come here. The truth is that these people want to get to mainland Europe, so they actually try to avoid Malta because they know that they will be put into detention. If they get wind that there are smugglers willing to take them to Italy in boats, then it will be an incentive for them to land in Malta and then take another short trip to get to Italy. They must be discouraged from doing so. In turn, the only way to discourage people from organising these trips is to give them hefty prison sentences.
The people who organise these trips might not be ‘criminals’ as we normally think of them. They are ruthless moneymakers who do not mind causing pain and hardship on others, they might look just like your neighbour, they are very difficult to pick out. That is why the police need to keep a close watch along with the Malta Maritime Authority.
People owning big power boats need to be put under scrutiny; after all people who have nothing to fear have nothing to hide. One hopes that if there are future offences, the jail terms will be even stiffer. An example has been made out of these three, if others do not heed it, their punishment should be even more severe.