‘People-smuggling gangs earned €6bn’ according to Europol

People-smuggling gangs netted up to €6bn last year, most of it from the traffic of migrants into Europe, the EU’s police agency Europol said in a report.

Labelling people-smuggling as the “fastest growing criminal market in Europe”, it said: “This turnover is set to double or triple if the scale of the current migration crisis persists in the upcoming year.”

Europol and police forces have identified more than 12,000 suspects active in gangs involved in smuggling in migrants since 2015.