Tracking a smuggler behind deadly Atlantic migrant crossing
1 May 2025 Share Save Reha Kansara, Shruti Menon & Mohammad Zubair Khan BBC Verify Share Save
BBC
In January a migrant boat was rescued off the north African coast after 14 harrowing days lost at sea. Some 50 people died on the voyage, many of whom were lied to by people smugglers promising safe and legal routes to Europe. BBC Verify has tracked one of the traffickers responsible - documenting his activities across three continents.
Punjabi rap music plays over a video showing three men at a beachside restaurant in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott. One after the other, they smile at the camera before casually turning to talk and laugh together. The three are clearly friends. Two of them, Sufian Ali and Atif Shahzad, are cousins from rural Pakistan. But it's the third man in particular who dominates the conversation. He's Fadi Gujjar, a people smuggler. The video - posted to Gujjar's TikTok account - is one of more than 450 clips analysed by BBC Verify that reveal clues about his activities and his close relationship
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