From Damascus to Benghazi: Migrant trafficking reaches tourism fairs

This past January, in Madrid, a very serious man guarded the solitary Syrian pavilion at the latest edition of Fitur, the most prestigious international tourism fair in Spain. From his booth, the gentleman promoted the country as “a totally safe experience,” downplaying the fact that Syria has been at war for 13 years. But his stern expression turned into real anger as soon as he was asked about Cham Wings Airlines, a private airline advertised in one of Syria’s displays. This firm is an example of how human-trafficking organizations manage to circumvent European border controls.

Cham Wings has been investigated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency — known as Frontex — and sanctioned by the EU for supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, held responsible for the deaths of more than 500,000 Syrian citizens since his violent repression of the 2011 revolution and the resulting civil war. After more than a decade of conflict — due to the violence, the dire economic situation and persisting insecurity — 12 million Syrians remain displaced within Syria, in neighboring Arab countries, as well as in EU nations.

Frontex has been tracking Cham Wings for some time now, due to its involvement in a network that traffics Syrian and Bangladeshi individuals from Damascus and Dhaka to Benghazi, in eastern Libya. Following this trip, these migrants reach the EU via Italy, in a matter of just five days. “It’s the most effective service that has been recorded so far,” states a 2022 internal report from the agency. This was the year when Syrian nationals were the third-largest group crossing the Mediterranean irregularly. Frontex subsequently predicted an increase in irregular entries of Syrians into the EU. This proved to be correct: in 2023, 32,881 Syrians entered the EU irregularly. A figure this high hasn’t been since the 2015-2016 refugee crisis.

Cham Wings was already sanctioned in 2016 by the United States for laundering money and supporting the Assad regime. In 2021, the company and its affiliated persons were sanctioned by the European Council, accused of transferring migrants to Belarus (a non-EU nation that borders Poland, Latvia and Lithuania). The sanctions were lifted in July of 2022, when the flights stopped. However, this past January 24, the airline was put back on the blacklist, this time for facilitating the smuggling of mercenaries, narcotics and weapons between Damascus and Benghazi.

Alternative routes from

Bangladesh and Syria

Italy

Damascus

Syria

Tripoli

Libya

Benghazi

Libya

Alexandria

Egypt

Dubai

UAE

Dhaka

Bangladesh

1000 km

Source: Frontex.

Alternative routes from

Bangladesh and Syria

Italy

Damascus

Syria

Tripoli

Libya

Benghazi

Libya

Alexandria

Egypt

Dubai

UAE

Dhaka

Bangladesh

1000 km

Source: Frontex.

Alternative routes from Bangladesh and Syria

Italy

Damascus

Syria

Tripoli

Libya

Benghazi

Libya

Alexandria

Egypt

Dubai

UAE

Dhaka

Bangladesh

1000 km

Source: Frontex.

The sanctions imposed on Cham Wings consist of the freezing of assets and the prohibition of travelling into EU territory. Firms operating in the EU are also prohibited from doing business with the firm. And the airline isn’t the only entity that’s been sanctioned: Cham Wings is part of a conglomerate that includes entities such as the ALDJ Group, the Al Tayr Company and Freebird. Between them, they form a network that makes a fortune by facilitating the travel of Syrian migrants, who are desperate to live in peace.

This conglomerate operates under the direction of a mysterious individual who is known as Mahmoud Abdulilah Al Dj, also included on the sanctions list. Little is known about him, beyond what he’s written on his social media accounts. He presents himself as a

40-year-old “businessman and investor” with dual Syrian and Libyan nationality. The few photos that he shares show a good-looking guy with a carefully trimmed beard, wearing high-quality clothes. His face radiates confidence.

But some investigations — such as one conducted by the Istanbul-based Omran Center for Strategic Studies, or those conducted by various media outlets — detail other versions of Al Dj. They described him as an alleged criminal, who pulls the strings of a network of companies that traffics human beings. He’s been accused of trafficking hashish and Captagon (a type of amphetamine); he’s even been sentenced to death in Libya, for attempting to smuggle in shipment of drugs. The European Council claims that he utilizes his companies to facilitate the transport of merchandise — both legal and illicit — to make a profit, whether this be narcotics or mercenaries. He has allegedly resorted to Cham Wings charter flights to engage in these activities.

Al Dj, for his part, denies all of the aforementioned accusations, including those related to his conviction in Libya. Through an email, he tells EL PAÍS that he opposes what he considers to be “unfair sanctions that lack the minimum foundations of objectivity and equity.”

The destination of Al Dj’s clients is eastern Libya, a territory from which clandestine departures across the Mediterranean to Italy have proliferated in recent years. This part of the country is dominated by Khalifa Hafter, a powerful warlord. The EU and certain individual member states — such as Italy or Malta — have attempted to negotiate with him to stop irregular immigration. An investigation by EL PAÍS and Lighthouse Reports revealed evidence of how this activity is flourishing, with perpetrators often acting under the protection of the Hafter family.

Two Syrians — who have spoken to EL PAÍS under pseudonyms for security reasons — traveled on Cham Wings planes from Damascus to Benghazi. Ahmed Nasser, 25, left the country after several of his friends and family were killed. He contacted an intermediary from Daraa, the city that was the cradle of the 2011 revolution. The majority of Syrians who emigrate come from there. He booked tickets at the Al Tayr travel agency, owned by Al Dj. He flew on a Cham Wings plane. “The [flight attendants’] uniforms, the logos on the headrests… everything was from Cham Wings,” Nasser recalls.

Omar Al Hariri, 44, wanted to apply for asylum in Europe. The Syrian government had already arrested him twice and he feared a third detention. “I suffered all forms of torture. When I entered, I weighed [260 pounds] and, when I left, I had dropped to [130],” he tells EL PAÍS by phone. Al Hariri bought his ticket at a local currency exchange office, which, in turn, acquired it through Al Tayr. “I paid $1,500 for the ticket and the passport stamp in Libya,” he adds.

The experience that Nasser and Al Hariri had with Cham Wings is recurrent in different investigations that have looked into the trafficking of migrants. In its 2022 report, Frontex confirmed that criminal networks were using a particular modus operandi. “They’re taking advantage of flights organized by well-known airlines that operate on the edge of legality,” the document indicates. The airline pockets $1,500 per passenger.

Frontex points out that Cham Wings is the company who operates these charter flights, which depart almost daily. The company’s website, however, doesn’t offer tickets from Damascus to Benghazi. It doesn’t matter which dates you search: you will invariably see the words “not available” appear on the screen. Information collected from social media suggests that tickets are only sold through a particular travel agency and are paid for in cash. This information confirms the testimonies obtained by Frontex.

Nasser and Al Hariri describe how the facilitators take the migrants’ passports and book flights for them from Damascus to Benghazi. They also report that, after landing, they don’t go through a proper set of border controls. “Libyan officials took down the [passport information] and names in a notebook and they let us pass,” the men note. According to Frontex, upon arriving in Libya, the refugees are assigned to other smugglers, who hide them in houses or ships.

They are then transported to the coast, where large fishing vessels set sail to smuggle immigrants from Libya to Italy. This was one of the main practices in this corridor in 2023, with prices ranging between $3,000 and $4,000 per passenger, according to Frontex. One of these ships was the Adriana, an overcrowded ship that sank last June in the Ionian Sea and left more than 650 people dead.

Another investigation by the UN Security Council’s panel of experts on Libya identified at least 188 flights to Benghazi between January of 2021 and March of 2022, as well as extensive evidence showing that flights also transported Syrian fighters to and from that city. In 2021, the airline pocketed around $40 million, according to the panel. In 2023, Cham Wings covered the Syria-Benghazi route 83 times, according to data from Flight Radar.

Mahmoud Al Dj

Owner and

administrator of

Owner

of

Travel

agent

Affiliates

Al Tayr Co.

ALDJ Group

Agent

of

Owner

of

Agent

of

Freebird

Travel Agency

Cham Wings

Mahmoud Al Dj

Owner and

administrator of

Owner

of

Travel

agent

Affiliates

Al Tayr Co.

ALDJ Group

Owner

of

Agent

of

Agent

of

Freebird

Travel Agency

Cham Wings

Mahmoud Al Dj

Travel

agent

Owner and

administrator of

Owner

of

Affiliates

Al Tayr Co.

ALDJ Group

Agent

of

Owner

of

Freebird

Travel Agency

Agent of

Cham Wings

EL PAÍS contacted Cham Wings by email. A spokesperson claimed that the company provides a “humanitarian airlift” for displaced Iraqis and Syrians: “the humanitarian vocation of Cham Wings has already been demonstrated before, rectifying and discarding [claims made] by [the European Council].”

There’s a third entity involved in the plot. His name is Al Tayr. On LinkedIn, Al Dj identifies him as his company’s CEO. Al Tayr isn’t sanctioned, but appears in an investigation by the Spanish police and other European intelligence services, who are looking into another human trafficking network that allegedly uses him for “the recruitment and management of traffickers, mainly Syrians.” Other pieces of evidence include the flight reservations of the citizens interviewed, which were made by Al Tayr. The company’s logo is clearly visible, while its phone numbers are listed in the police reports.

As suspicions grow about Cham Wings, it’s striving to clean up its image… and not only in Spain. In October of 2023, representatives of the airline attended the 15th Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition in Istanbul, which was organized by the World Food Program (WFP). In 2021, this international organization was already criticized for using this airline: it signed a contract — worth about $500,000 — for chartering a plane to transport medical supplies in 2020, “as it was the only viable option,” according to a WFP spokesperson. Regarding the presence at the Istanbul conference and other previous editions of the same event, the same spokesperson indicates that the WFP doesn’t have the authority to make decisions about the exhibitors or the planned speakers. EL PAÍS has reached out to the Istanbul-based conference center for comment, without success.

Al Dj continues to sell himself as a clean businessman. His company’s social media accounts are still up online. He’s still promoting trips… even when they cannot be purchased. The image of a successful businessman hides someone who’s considered responsible for lining his pockets at the expense of the suffering of his compatriots.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition