New surveillance footage appears to show a German migrant rescue group receiving around 90 migrants directly from masked smugglers off the Libyan coast.
The footage was recorded on May 11 by a surveillance plane operated by the EU border agency Frontex. It shows five masked men transferring around 90 migrants from a speedboat to two inflatable boats sent out by Sea-Watch 5, a ship run by the German NGO Sea-Watch.
According to reports in the German media, the transfer took place approximately 90 kilometres north-east of Tripoli, Libya.
The migrants, most of whom were from Bangladesh, are seen boarding the NGO’s boats in an orderly manner before being taken aboard Sea-Watch 5.
The sea appears calm, with no visible signs of panic, people in the water, or a sinking vessel.
The masked men, wearing paramilitary-style clothing, are seen waving and giving a thumbs-up after the transfer before returning towards the Libyan coast at high speed.
The release of the footage comes after prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Brindisi launched an investigation into the vessel’s Dutch captain, Anne van Dam. She is suspected of aggravated complicity in illegal immigration, an offence that can carry a prison sentence of up to twenty years under Italian law.
Four days after the incident, Sea-Watch 5 arrived in the port of Brindisi carrying 166 migrants. Italian police and coastguard officers searched the vessel, copied its navigation data, and seized several logbooks as part of the investigation. No charges have been filed.
Sea-Watch has denied any collaboration with criminal smuggling networks and insisted its crew had encountered an overcrowded vessel in distress. It claimed that two people aboard were unconscious, several others were severely weakened, and some passengers were trapped below deck.
The NGO also said its crew had been confronted by armed, masked men during the rescue.
While maritime conventions require ships to assist people in danger at sea regardless of their immigration status, prosecutors will examine whether any evidence exists of unlawful cooperation with organised criminal groups.
The footage appears to support long-standing claims that left-wing Western NGOs are cooperating with smugglers under the guise of rescuing migrants at sea.
Alice Weidel, co-chair of the anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, said on X that they will halt such activities if they come to power.
According to Bild, migrants from Pakistan or Bangladesh pay up to €15,000 to smugglers for the journey from Dhaka to Dortmund. The Mediterranean crossing alone costs €5,000 per person. Organised crime groups earn nearly €500,000 from a single smuggling trip off the African coast.
