April 2021, by Saljuk Mohammad and Jebrill Dayoub
STOCKHOLM – In Sweden there are more than 200,000 Syrians. They are considered to be the largest immigrant Arabic-speaking community in that country. The Swedish tourist bureaus provide services to transport a large number of Syrians to their home countries.
In this investigation, a cross-border team monitored eight tourist bureaus, working as unofficial fronts within Swedish territories for an airline company that is listed in the US sanctions list.
Impact
- On 7 May 2021 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in Lebanon issued an official statement with a warning for agents in Sweden and Germany, who sell airline tickets to Syria via Beirut. The goal of these ticket sales offices is to defraud Swedish residents, the Ministry said. The statement came just two weeks after the publication in Daraj of this investigation.
- After this publication, one of the biggest ticket sales agents arranging flights to Syria removed all the labels from the front of its building and closed its office.
Image: One of the offices representing itself as an official agent for Cham Wings Airlines in Jönköping, Sweden