Facebook 'travel agencies' luring migrant families to their deaths

At first glance they appear to be run by companies touting for business online, offering tourists ‘reasonably priced’ days out.

But in reality, these ‘travel agents’ are callous people smugglers luring refugee families to their deaths with the false promise of quick and easy journeys to Europe.

One of these unscrupulous traffickers told our undercover reporter, posing as an Iraqi mother-of-two desperate to reach Greece, that despite the recent news reports of migrants drowning, she and her children would be safe on his boat.

'It will be part our investigation into people trafficking which we are trying with all the other countries to tackle.'

While most posts on the ‘travel agency’ Facebook pages simply advertise trips, some offer advice to refugees hoping to reach Europe.

‘Just go to Izmir, you will find plenty of smuggling there,’ one man writes. ‘Find a tourist boat for yourself, then to Germany. Give yourself up to the nearest police station and you will live like a king.’

One trafficker's advert read: ‘A fast boat takes you to Greece in 25 minutes. The price is reasonable, for families only, and one journey every two days takes 10 passengers only.’

Another stated: ‘My dear brothers, a daily journey on this yacht direct from Izmir to Greece for $2,000 per person.’

(dailymail.co.uk)