Smuggling is the illegal transport of goods, especially across borderlines. Smuggling is engaged in to avoid taxation or to obtain goods which are prohibited in a certain region. Items that are often involved in smuggling include alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, arms, and even immigrants.
Criminal networks that smuggle human beings for financial gain increasingly control the flow of migrants across borders. Usually the travelling conditions are inhumane, the migrants overcrowded in trucks or boats and fatal accidents occur quite frequently. After their arrival in their destination country, the illegal status of the migrants puts them into the mercy of their smugglers, which often force them for years to work in the illegal labour market to pay off the debts incurred as a result of their transportation.
