Category: Who is going where

Australia: people smugglers work a new angle

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Instead of selling phoney asylum seekers seats on a potentially rickety boat to Australia they now have an air route and fake visas for them.

Iraqis are running the operation!

Iraqi national Abu Tarek

Before I get to the story, I see there is news this morning that more Rohingya have been caught in Indonesia headed for a another of those boat crossings.   Indonesia is a Muslim country, so why aren’t the Rohingya satisfied to break in there and stay in their own culture zone, why Australia?  (silly question!)

Where the heck are these destitute “refugees” getting $16,000 to pay for a ticket?  From 9News:

People smugglers are selling asylum seekers passports and Australian visas for entry to the country by plane – offering them an alternative to a potentially deadly boat journey.

The ABC’s Four Corners reported that it secretly filmed people smuggler Abu Tarek in Malaysia talking about the deal.

The Iraqi man tells a potential customer that for $16,000 they get a passport with an Australia visa.

“The passport is from Oman or Bahrain, they get the Bahrain passport with the Australia visa in it, both official – not fake,” he said in a conversational secretly recorded by the ABC’s Four Corners.

“They use the passport to fly there and when they arrive safely, they tear it up and enter the country (Australia).”

He tells the person that when they enter the country they can then apply for refugee status.

His business partner Abu Saleh, also from Iraq, is accused of running his people smuggling business from an Indonesian prison with the help of corrupt prison officials.

One asylum seeker who dealt with him while he was in prison said he was “like a king”.

The photo is from a much more detailed story  (found after beginning this post) about this illegal operation at ABC News Australia.  Some of the flights are to New Zealand as well.

Some EU countries turning Syrians back, UN wants it stopped

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is more news today about European countries saying ‘no’ to Syrians attempting to get across their borders, and the UNHCR wants a moratorium on the stepped-up border security some countries are putting in place.

Syrian Muslims arrive on Cyprus

Here is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees:

UNHCR is greatly concerned over reports of some EU countries placing barriers to entry or forcibly returning asylum-seekers including people who have fled the conflict in Syria. UNHCR is calling, globally as well as in the European Union, for a shift away from border protection to protection of people. If practices to prevent asylum-seekers from accessing territory and procedures are taking place, UNHCR calls on states to cease them immediately. Push-backs and prevention of entry can put asylum-seekers at further risk and expose them to additional trauma.

In Bulgaria UNHCR is seeking more information from the authorities on their reported activities at the border to stem the flow of refugees into the country. Media reports say Bulgaria turned back 100 migrants at the border over the weekend and deployed some 1,200 police officers to the border region. Introducing barriers, like fences or other deterrents, may lead people to undertake more dangerous crossings and further place refugees at the mercy of smugglers.  [We have written a lot about Bulgaria’s problems here—ed]

UNHCR is also concerned over similar reports of asylum seekers being pushed back from Greece to Turkey.

[….]

In Cyprus, UNHCR has received reports of Syrians arriving irregularly by boat in the northern part of the country and being returned to Turkey following a brief detention.

[….]

UNHCR is calling for a global moratorium on any return of Syrians to neighbouring countries. This would represent a concrete gesture of solidarity with these countries that currently host over 2.2 million Syrian refugees.

Rather than disrupt economically-struggling countries, the UN must build more camps in the Muslim world (hey! how about Saudi Arabia!) for Muslim refugees until the civil war is over!   It would be cheaper than permanent resettlement of Syrians all over the world!  And, they could stay in their own “culture zones.”

BTW, what ever happened to the UN’s “state-of-the-art” camp in Jordan that was sitting empty last time we heard.

The EU is avoiding dealing with the issue of migration until after elections next spring fearing the wrong moves now would usher in the “right wing” here.

Photo is from Deutsche Welle on Cyprus trying to cope.

Lampedusa: Women raped and tortured on refugee boat

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Coffins of some of the 300 plus who died attempting to get to Italy.

A Somali ringleader has been arrested.

The story is a few days old, but every time I see a story like this one I am reminded of now UN Ambassador Samantha Power who played a huge role with Hillary and Susan Rice in pushing the US into our ‘adventures’ in Libya supposedly under the belief that it was ‘our responsibility to protect’ the people of Libya from Gaddafi who was able at times to keep a lid on the human traffickers attempting to move through Libya. Now the Libyan coast is lawless.

From the Standart:

Italian police have arrested a Somali man accused of raping and torturing asylum seekers fleeing Libya on a boat which sank off the island of Lampedusa last month killing more than 365 migrants.

Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin, 34, faces charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, people trafficking and criminal association with the goal of aiding illegal immigration after he was identified by survivors.

Some 130 migrants from Eritrea told police they were held for ransom at a detention centre in the Libyan desert by people traffickers from Somalia, Libya and Sudan.

The migrants were forced to pay up to USD 3,500 for their freedom and their onward journey to the Libyan coast and a boat that due to take them to Italy.

Italian authorities have vowed to crack down on the people trafficking rings that have been behind the influx of more than 35,000 asylum seekers so far this year to the country’s coasts.

[….]

According to migrants’ testimony, the 20 women in the group were repeatedly raped and offered to Libyan visitors “as if they were a cup of tea”.

Photo is from this story in which the Eritrean government blames the US for the deaths.

Australia: First suicide bomber from Down Under tentatively identified in Syria

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Think about it, Western countries “welcome” Muslim refugees and migrants, offer them a good life, feed and care for them until the time they can go join the Jihad as healthy Islamic warriors.

Here is the story from ABC News Australia (hat tip: Leonie):

Emphasis is mine

Saying good-bye to fellow Jihadist

New video has emerged of the man claimed to be Australia’s first suicide bomber.

The video appears to be published by the Al Qaeda-linked group, Jabhat al Nusrah, which has previously said the Australian blew himself up in an attack on an army checkpoint in north-eastern Syria in September.

It is the most revealing insight yet into the man’s last hours and shows the group preparing the massive truck bomb used in the attack.

[….]

Since sketchy images of the bombing and a still image of Abu Asma emerged identifying him as an Australian in September, Australia’s intelligence and police agencies have been trying to trace his route from suburban obscurity to jihad.

It is understood they have identified the man they believe carried out the bombing.

Jihad is the duty of every Muslim!  Forget your family and the “good life.”

He bids farewell to fellow jihadists then urges more foreigners to come and join the fight.

“This is a message to all my brothers in the world: Today jihad is a duty of every Muslim, to carry a weapon and come to the land of jihad… today jihad is duty imposed on every Muslim, so rise up Muslims.

“This is a duty imposed on us and the best of people are those who fight for the sake of God. So if you are afraid, why are you afraid? For your wives and your children? Trust in God. In the West or in any country, you think you are men? Or (that) you are living a good life? Today real men are living in the land of jihad. They are our brothers, they are the Muslims who defend the religion of God.”

20 to 30 Australians are believed to have joined the Jihad. Not mentioned here is any discussion about how they became indoctrinated in Australia.   Radical mosques?

There are signs that others who have expressed an interest in fighting in Syria have been able to use contacts in Australia to get in touch with armed groups.

The militias are happy to get new recruits, but want them to bring money for weapons and supplies, and there is evidence many would-be jihadists raise money in Australia before heading to Syria.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says over the past 12 months there has been a substantial increase in the number of Australians going to join hardline groups, including Jabhat al Nusra.

In just a year the number has risen from a few to 20 or 30, possibly more.

Australian security is cancelling passports of those they suspect might be ready to bolt.  That is something we should be doing in the US too!  And, where have they been bolting to?  To Turkey as the gateway to Syria!

Turkey is the most important gateway for foreign fighters headed into Syria.

Presumably to head off the fear some have of the Jihadists returning to Australia, the government is also cancelling passports of those they suspect have gone for terrorism training so they can’t get back in!

The fears about what these men might do in Australia when they head home are well publicised.

For the news in 2008 about America’s first suicide bomber, go here.   Those Somali “kids” who left the “good life” in Minneapolis to receive terror training in Somalia may never have grown up except for the goodness of the American tax payer.

For more on Australia’s immigration problems, click here.

Kenyan and Somali governments agree Somali refugees to be repatriated

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, the UN High Commissioner of Refugees is not happy and stresses that it be a “voluntary” return!

UNHCR tents at Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp. Tents should be easy enough to move back across the border into Somalia!

The September slaughter by Somali Islamic terrorists at the Westgate Mall appears to have been the final straw for welcoming Kenya.

Here is the story at Capital News (emphasis mine):

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stressed that the agreement for the repatriation of Somali refugees signed with the Kenyan and Somali governments on Sunday is based on the premise that the exercise will be voluntary.

In a press statement released on Monday, the UNHCR Representative in Kenya Raouf Mazou said, “It’s very important to underline that no one is forcing Somalis to leave Kenya.”

“The government and people of Kenya have tirelessly provided protection and assistance to Somali refugees for two decades. The agreement we signed on Sunday does not mean Kenya is no longer willing to do so,” he underscored.

[….]

Ever since Kenyan Defence Forces captured Kismayu, believed to be the operational centre of the Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia, the Kenyan government has been pushing the UNHCR on the repatriation of Somali refugees.

The government has made it clear that the continued hosting of Somali refugees now comes at too high a cost given the spike in terror attacks on Kenya.

[….]

Being left without much choice the UNHCR now says it is focused on ensuring the repatriation exercise is carried out, “in safety and dignity.”

The agreement signed on Sunday will see the Kenyan and Somali governments as well as the UNHCR put in place a plan for the repatriation and reintegration of the Somali refugees housed in Kenya, establish how much that will cost and marshall those funds from the international community.

So, of course this means the US shouldn’t take another supposed Somali “refugee.”  Right!  In fact, it would be cheaper for America in the long run to help finance this repatriation then to take in thousands of needy Somalis as we did this past fiscal year.

Just a reminder, 7,608 new Somali refugees were resettled in the US in FY2013, here.