Catanese prosecutors are alleging that the boat Vos Hestia, which docked in Malta on Monday was in cahoots with traffickers facilitating clandestine immigration
Malta Today
By Denise Grech
18 August 2017
Prosecutors
in Catania have alleged that the boat ‘Vos Hestia’, of Save the
Children, is working with illegal traffickers to facilitate clandestine
immigration.
The investigators claim that some NGO
members were involved not only in direct contact with the traffickers
but also shared some strategies with them for rescues and migrant
transfer.
The search and rescue boat has been docked in
Malta since Monday, as reports that the Libyan navy was threatening
humanitarian vessels in Save the Children’s patrolling zones surfaced.
“A second investigation may overwhelm the NGOs,” Save the Children said in a reaction to the news.
This
is the second investigation against search and rescue organisations,
after prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro made waves last April when he reported
that some NGOs, including Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station
(MOAS), “could be financed by traffickers”.
The first
Trapani investigation is, however, “far less serious” according to Save
the Children, as it alleges that only some NGO members have made contact
with illegal traffickers.
“People aboard the [NGO]
ships are clearly aware of the time and place where they will find
vessels carrying migrants, so they are clearly previously informed,”
chief Trapani prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said.
Catania
prosecutors however claim that the criminal activity is not sporadic or
individual but an organized liaison between rescue crews and the
traffickers.
In an interview with Italian paper
Quotidiano, former Save the Children security officer Lucio M., said
that the NGO is focused on business rather than saving lives.
“The
NGOs don’t give a hoot about migrants. It’s only a business of the
moment,” he sated, arguing that he faced threats from STC before
speaking out.
Lucio also claims that STC is
purposefully hiring Eritrean and Libyan men who liaise with traffickers,
giving them the exact position of boats full of asylum-seekers.
Source: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/79811/second_investigation_launched_against_save_the_children_boat_docked_in_malta