Speaking during an interview from 5:44 on Arise News on Sunday, September 27, 2026, Soyombo recounted an incident in which migrants were forced to use their bare hands to free a truck after its tyres became stuck in mud.
According to the journalist, the traffickers used physical force rather than making ordinary requests, leaving the migrants with little choice but to comply.
“When the tyres of the truck got stuck in the mud, they asked us to use our bare hands and these things were not requests, they were violent about it. They will grab us by the scruff of our neck and pull us. They even filmed and laughed at us. They were having fun,” he said.
Soyombo said the incident illustrated the level of control traffickers exercised over migrants travelling along the route, adding that refusing their instructions could expose the migrants to physical violence.
His account was part of his undercover investigation into the dangers faced by migrants travelling through the Sahara Desert and Libya while seeking routes to Europe.