Crotone - Files: In the Clutches of Traffickers
Zainab abdulkarim-art, politi-skien, Politi Telemark, oslo politidistrikt, Grenland politistasjon, Norge
01.09.2023 - Norway
“The smuggling of dozens of individuals into Schengen countries 2008.”
In late 2007, an art project emerged, presented as an international charity exhibition in Paris for sick children. Its organizers claimed to involve international and charitable organizations to support the exhibition and were supposed to bring together global artists for a noble humanitarian purpose. However, investigations revealed that the project was a meticulously crafted façade for fraud, exploiting the artistic and humanitarian ambitions of participants to conceal migrant smuggling operations and financial and legal exploitation.
The key figure behind this project, who presented herself as an official in the Iraqi Ministry of Culture following the U.S. occupation, employed a web of lies and deception to persuade artists and investors to participate. She presented fake, Photoshop-edited photos to mislead parties about her appearance, aiming to enhance the credibility of her claims, and stole ideas for artworks from other artists to reinforce the project’s false legitimacy. The real objective was to seize participants’ works and funds and entangle them in a complex smuggling network.
After more than 80 artworks were transported, they, along with additional artworks from other artists, were confiscated by the smugglers. It became clear that the exhibition was merely a deceptive front and a gateway for moving large numbers of migrants. The group was transported to the city of Crotone in southern Italy, where other groups of migrants seeking entry into Schengen countries through intermediaries joined them. There, the network confiscated the artworks, funds, and documents, leaving the victims in a vulnerable and exploitable situation. Investigations showed that this individual was part of a network connected with Iraqi smugglers in Schengen countries, exploiting her misleading connections with authorities and civil society to conceal her illegal activities.
This fraudulent project was not an isolated incident, but the beginning of a series of complex deceptions, including legal manipulation, creation of false cases, and exploitation of other victims under the guise of artistic and cultural activity, ultimately revealing a wide network of collusion and cross-border fraud.
The photo shows the central figure in the smuggling operation on board a train during one of the group’s escape trips from Italy. Beside her is a man named Hamid, wearing a red T-shirt and serving as a guard at the Iraqi Embassy in Rome. Reports indicate that Hamid was one of her main supporters, as she contacted him in 2010 to assist her by acting as a witness against one of the victims, in connection with fabricated cases used for blackmail. Through this, the Norwegian police were misled with deceptive accounts. It is noteworthy that Norwegian authorities later forcibly deported him back to Italy by government decision, prior to the smuggling operations in 2008.
June 16, 2008 – 00:28 AM Italy
"A map placed on the road to the city of Crotone in southern Italy, one of the locations involved in past human trafficking operations. Crotone 2008"
The individual was smuggled with the assistance of the person who organized the activities in the city of Crotone, where artists were unlawfully detained after declining to participate in what was described as a “so-called charity project exhibition.”. They were held under guard at the door, and later managed to escape after their belongings and money had been confiscated.
The woman identified as the key organizer claimed she had no connection with him and did not even know him. However, it later became clear that he was the one who drove her by car to Norway on a three day overland journey, after facilitating the smuggling of the entire group who had been presented as “artists” and supposed participants in visual art exhibitions. Crotone 2008
The guard is shown at the door while performing his duties at the site linked to the network. It is noted that he was later smuggled out to a Schengen country after completing his activities. Crotone 2008
Collecting piles of artworks to deceive the authorities under the guise of artistic activity.
Italy 2008
The deception involved claiming that the exhibition would take place in Paris; it later emerged that Paris was merely a transit point, while the actual coordination and activities were conducted in Crotone, Italy.
The exhibitions were entirely formal, with no artworks sold. None of the participants were returned to their home countries, as all individuals were smuggled to Schengen states, including the guard who had been responsible for overseeing the detainees. Furthermore, no donations were made to any association, and no organization or charity participated, contrary to the coordinator’s claims. These actions caused significant psychological, financial, and personal harm to the victims, many of whom were deceived, exploited, and left without support or legal protection.
Additional note: Evidence indicates that the coordinator employed a calculated strategy aimed at intimidating others from intervening or allowing any serious investigation into her activities, by implying that the circulated materials, photos, or recordings were purely personal and family-related matters that should not be examined.
She exploited this organized deception to persuade law enforcement agencies and digital platform administrations that the shared content fell within her private sphere, effectively obstructing independent verification and concealing the true circumstances.
This carefully crafted strategy reveals a systematic approach designed to confuse authorities and weaken efforts to trace the smuggling networks linked to her, thereby increasing the risks and hindering any serious investigation that could expose the scale of the actual violations.
