Monitoring a smuggler behind tragic Atlantic migrant voyage

In January a migrant boat was rescued off the north African coast after 14 harrowing days misplaced at sea. Some 50 individuals died on the voyage, lots of whom had been lied to by individuals smugglers promising secure and authorized routes to Europe. BBC Confirm has tracked one of many traffickers accountable – documenting his actions throughout three continents.

Punjabi rap music performs over a video displaying three males at a beachside restaurant in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott. One after the opposite, they smile on the digicam earlier than casually turning to speak and chortle collectively.

The three are clearly mates. Two of them, Sufian Ali and Atif Shahzad, are cousins from rural Pakistan.

Nevertheless it’s the third man particularly who dominates the dialog. He is Fadi Gujjar, a individuals smuggler.

The video – posted to Gujjar’s TikTok account – is one in every of greater than 450 clips analysed by BBC Confirm that reveal clues about his actions and his shut relationship to the opposite males.

Inside a month of this video being posted on-line, Ali and Shahzad had been lifeless – crushed to dying on the boat journey offered to them by Gujjar, who promised a secure route into Europe.

In the meantime, Gujjar discovered himself on the run, needed by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Company (FIA) for his position within the tragedy.

When BBC Confirm contacted him on a cellphone quantity obtained from survivors, Gujjar mentioned repeatedly in a collection of voice notes his identify had been “misused” by survivors in reference to the catastrophe and that he was leaving all of it within the palms of Allah.

Fadi Gujjar is from Jaurah in Pakistan’s Punjab area. In his 30s, his actual identify is Khawar Hassan – although he additionally goes by Bishi Gujjar.

Pakistani smugglers the BBC has beforehand reported on have tended to boastfully promote unlawful routes to Europe on-line.

However Gujjar is cautious. His on-line presence is restricted to extremely edited movies of his travels and virtually all purchasers BBC Confirm recognized are native to Jaurah. Ads for his providers appear to unfold by phrase of mouth.

His present location on Fb is about to Istanbul, Turkey – an oasis for smugglers seeking to make a fast buck. Movies posted to TikTok place him within the metropolis since July 2022, displaying the smuggler outdoors the enduring Hagia Sophia and a Pakistani grocery store.

One different location stands out: Mauritania on West Africa’s Atlantic coast – the nerve-centre of his operation and the place from which the migrant boat began its perilous journey.

Since 2023, the Worldwide Organisation for Migration (IOM) says Mauritania has change into a hub for individuals smuggling – spurred on by a crackdown on different routes.

The route is lethal. IOM information reveals that 170 individuals – together with 14 youngsters – have died or gone lacking on it this 12 months.

Many Pakistanis searching for financial alternatives in Europe are prepared to take the danger. Life there may be glorified on-line by migrants already residing on the continent. Smugglers like Gujjar, whose profitable enterprise is fuelled by individuals’s aspirations, benefit from this.

These migrants are taking a big gamble, utilizing their households’ financial savings or promoting as much as make the journey. The survivors we spoke to, on common, say they paid Gujjar $13,000 (£10,000).

There aren’t any direct flights from Pakistan to Mauritania, so among the migrants transited by means of Ethiopia or the Center East. From there, virtually all of them went on to Senegal, earlier than crossing into Mauritania, both by highway or a brief boat journey alongside the Senegal River.

Gujjar’s journey historical past – obtained by BBC Confirm by means of a supply – confirmed the smuggler adopted the same route, coming into Dakar airport in Senegal on two events in 2024.

A number of movies additionally place him within the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott from October 2024 – although the date of add may differ to after they had been filmed.

Additional clips, posted to TikTok by Ali and Shahzad place Gujjar in Mauritania as early as August 2024. The trio are seen on the rooftops of Nouakchott’s sand-coloured buildings and in eating places across the metropolis – a luxurious different migrants could not afford.

Movies from their accounts reveal the boys had been shut, hailing from the identical village. Their uncle, Ahsan Shahzad Chaudhry, confirmed to BBC Confirm that his nephew Sufian Ali was mates with Gujjar.

One survivor named Uzair Bhat mentioned Gujjar falsely promised him secure and authorized routes to Europe. He despatched BBC Confirm proof of funds transferred to a checking account below Gujjar’s actual identify, Khawar Hassan.

However when Uzair arrived in Mauritania, the smuggler backtracked.

“He mentioned going by air won’t work from right here. I will ship you by a giant ship,” Uzair recalled. “Please cooperate, your visa [to Europe] will not come by means of.”

Ultimately Uzair relented.

In addition to Ali, Shahzad and Uzair, BBC Confirm recognized two different migrants who purchased journeys from Gujjar.

As soon as they arrived in Nouakchott they are saying they had been positioned in “secure homes” – a time period used for buildings tucked away in obscure alleys the place migrants are held illegally by smugglers.

One one that used a unique agent mentioned he additionally stayed in secure homes run by Gujjar.

BBC Confirm confirmed the situation of 1 to an space close to the port of Nouakchott, which survivors say Gujjar often visited.

Survivors BBC Confirm spoke to say they set off from Nouakchott in a small fishing boat within the early hours on 2 January. Most of these onboard purchased passage from smugglers of their hometowns in Pakistan.

However the three day journey changed into a lethal two-week journey adrift at sea.

Uzair mentioned that from the day they left port the migrants “had been consistently scooping water out of the boat”. One other man, Bilalwal Iqbal, recalled that passengers quickly started “ingesting sea water and after ingesting it, individuals grew to become delirious”.

In keeping with the survivors, the crew onboard – West Africans employed by the smugglers – starved the Pakistani migrants of meals and water, and beat them every day.

“I attempted to take one in every of their bottles of water in order that they hit me on the top with a rope and the affect simply made me fall again,” Iqbal informed BBC Confirm. “Then they pummelled my thumbs with a hammer. I nonetheless have these wounds.”

Sufian Ali and Atif Shahzad died after being crushed to dying by the crew, their uncle mentioned. He was knowledgeable of the circumstances surrounding their deaths by survivors.

Others died of hunger, dehydration and hypothermia.

These nonetheless alive, together with the crew, had given up till they noticed a a lot bigger fishing vessel come into sight. Uzair Bhat jumped into the ocean and swam in the direction of it for assist.

The coastguard instructed the vessel to take the migrant boat to Dakhla port – 60 miles away. In keeping with the IOM, 15 lifeless our bodies had been discovered onboard whereas 35 individuals stay lacking at sea and presumed lifeless.

Pakistani authorities have named Gujjar as one in every of ten smugglers concerned within the tragedy. Some have been arrested, however not Gujjar.

BBC Confirm geolocated his most up-to-date TikTok posts to Baku, Azerbaijan – although we can’t say for sure if he’s nonetheless there.

Since information of the rescue broke, his mom and one in every of his brothers have been detained in Pakistan, accused of gathering cash on Gujjar’s behalf from individuals shopping for routes to Europe.

BBC Confirm has additionally seen six police studies filed in Punjab by the households of these on the boat journey. They allege Gujjar collected $75,000 (£56,000) for his position within the January catastrophe. Three individuals paid in full, whereas the remaining three had solely paid deposits, the police studies mentioned.

We consider Gujjar was nonetheless facilitating journeys to Europe after the boat catastrophe in January.

Contacted by an undercover BBC reporter in March utilizing a cellphone quantity obtained from survivors, Gujjar mentioned he “knew somebody” who would assist organize a journey, however didn’t straight supply to get entangled himself.

Further reporting by Dilay Yaçin, Javed Sumroo and Joshua Cheetham.