DESPITE Europe’s restrictive measures to keep migrants out, refugees from Asia and Africa make perilous journeys by land and sea spurred by injustice, adverse economic conditions and conflict at home.

Since 2012, the flow of refugees from Pakistan to Europe has increased.

When the root causes of young people fleeing our country remains unaddressed, even Europe’s extreme anti-migration measures do not deter.

In fact, poverty and desperation allow the lucrative smuggling trade to benefit as migrants continue using the Eastern Mediterranean route to reach Greece via Iran and Turkey.

To check organised human smuggling, the FIA, tasked with preventing and investigating illegal migrant trafficking, has revealed plans to open representative offices in Iran and Greece.

On the surface, this is an effective response.

The complexity of this crime and prosecuting criminal groups entails collaborative international efforts and cross-border assistance.

However, the FIA should crack down on smugglers’ agents promising recruits work in Europe.

The desperately poor embark on perilous journeys after paying hefty sums to ruthless traffickers, despite the high risk of drowning at sea, and the threat of indefinite detention.

The cost of smuggling services from Pakistan to mainland Europe is estimated at approximately Rs2m per migrant.

In most cases, borders are not even crossed and recruiters disappear with the money.

Visa and document fraud is another element of this criminal racket that should be curtailed.

While maintaining border-control mechanisms, assigning resources and expertise to the FIA is also imperative.

Take the case of 20 illegal migrants who were killed by militants in Turbat, Balochistan, while attempting to cross the Pakistan-Iran border sometime ago.

The FIA conceded in court it had limited capacity to investigate local smuggling rings involved in this case.

The state must be reminded that the lives of Pakistan’s poorest will remain at risk from greed-driven human smuggling unless it fails to adequately fund those authorities tasked with countering criminal networks.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018