Mr. Thiaw and El HA Mbengue, arrested by the National Criminal Investigation Division (DNIT), were referred to the public prosecutor's office for fraud related to the fraudulent issuance of fake Serbian and Moldovan visas. According to Libération, which broke the story, it reveals a network of illegal migration stretching from Senegal to Morocco, with Europe as its final destination.

According to preliminary findings of the investigation, several complaints indicate that Thiaw received large sums of money by promising to quickly obtain visas for Serbia or Moldova, which were supposed to facilitate land transit to Italy. The modus operandi involved paying a minimum advance of 500,000 CFA francs, for a total estimated cost of 2,700,000 CFA francs per person.

One of the complainants, a certain Mr. Thione, who had indeed received a Serbian visa, discovered after checking at the AIBD that the document was falsified and unusable. Arrested, Thiaw admitted to having collected the sums, which he paid to his accomplice, Mbengue, a computer engineer. The latter also admitted the facts, specifying that 200,000 CFA francs constituted their commission, the rest being intended for the client.

Quoted by the newspaper, the two men named RB Diouf, allegedly the head of a travel agency based in Morocco, as the main organizer. She allegedly created the fake visas with the help of a Moroccan national working at the Serbian consulate in Rabat. These documents were then used to smuggle candidates into Italy, via a smuggler nicknamed Khadim.

The DNIT is actively continuing its search to locate the other two suspects, reports Libération.