A group of Eritrean people smugglers, who partially operated from the Netherlands, have been involved in large-scale human trafficking, violence, and other atrocities against migrants, according to witness statements in a international criminal investigation.

In almost all cases, the witnesses were Eritrean refugees who had paid the smugglers to transport them to the Netherlands, but then fell victim to human trafficking in Libya.

Conny Rijken, the Dutch national rapporteur on human trafficking, examined 124 witness statements in connection with the investigation, saying it shed new light on what people experience during their journey.

According to the reports, the asylum seekers were locked up in cramped warehouses, given insufficient food and water, and there were no sanitation facilities. They were also forced to call their family members to arrange for additional money to be sent and faced physical and verbal abuse.

Seven men are wanted in connection with smuggling rings, two of whom ran detention camps in Libya. One of them is already on trial in the Netherlands. The other main suspect will soon be extradited by the United Arab Emirates, the public prosecution service said. The witness statements date from 2018 and 2021.

The remaining five suspects are accused of organising extortion and running the financial side of the operation from within the Netherlands. A large number of the victims already had family members here and their relatives were visited by the gang and told to hand over more cash.

“It is important that there is sufficient awareness among policymakers and investigators of the risks migrants run during their journey, including becoming the victims of extortion,” Rijken said.

A quarter of the victims in this investigation were women and one in five were under the age of 18.