According to the Demoskopica research institute, some 650,000 migrants have landed on the coasts of southern Italy since 2011, in areas where local organized crime groups are dominant.
Human traffickers could have illegally earned around 4 billion from migrant landings in southern Italy since 2011, an increase of over 300 percent in the 2014-2016 period compared with the previous three years, according to a recent study.
The report,
entitled "Sbarchi & Disperazione.Il Giro d'Affari della Criminalità Organizzata" (Landings and Desperation: Turnover from Organized Crime)
was published by the Demoskopika research institute and analyzed migrant flows in the areas at the greatest risk of being affected by Italian organized crime since 2011.
Nearly 652,340 migrants have landed between 2011 and May 19, 2017 on Italian coasts where organized crime groups are the most dominant. According to the UNHCR, over 486,000 migrants arrived via sea in Sicily, just under 100,000 in Calabrian coasts, about 50,000 in Puglia region and over 18,000 on Campania coasts.
The over 650,000 migrants that landed on Italian coasts raked in over 3.9 billion euros for human traffickers, most of whom belong to transnational organized crime groups. In other words, the criminals made around 4.5 million euros per day. Researchers came up with the figure by multiplying the average cost of 6,000 euros which each migrant paid to leave his or her home country and travel towards Europe.
Demoskopica reports that Italian organized crime groups profit from this, making use of low-cost workers and drug mules for international criminal associations.