Illegal routes to flee Afghanistan become active as traffickers make money: Report | World News

A five-stage illegal route to escape from Afghanistan to the United Kingdom has become very active with traffickers charging several thousand pounds to facilitate this escape route, Daily Mail reported. Former British military translators are taking this escape route amid threats and apprehension of ongoing Taliban search operations. The report said that the business of human traffickers has increased by 150 per cent since the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban. The report interviewed some of them who are in transit and waiting for their next move.

The racket is well-organised with the smugglers plotting their routes using WhatsApp. Separate legs of the journey are managed by separate teams of smugglers, the report said.

The first leg of the escape route is either from Pakistan or Afghanistan itself. If one is escaping from Afghanistan, then this stage involves walking through the mountains. If the Pakistan route is clear, then one has to cross deserts.

In the second stage, one can fly from Pakistan to Turkey, but it involves visa costs. The other option from Afghanistan is to reach Iran and then Turkey from Iran via road.

In the next stage, people are being sent to Europe from Turkey. Bosnia is the first stop and then in the next two stages, the ‘guests’, as they are called by the traffickers are guided to either of the countries like Germany, France, Belgium or the Netherlands. The last stop is the UK.

Each of the stage will take a lot of time and money and the smugglers are the only option for many as they have been dismissed for relocation for some reason. “I had no alternative but to escape because I am a target for the Taliban. This is very dangerous but it is less dangerous than living a life in hiding,” one former British military translator told Daily Mail. The traffickers are very professional and operate like an army, they have said.