A French court has sentenced 18 people – mainly Iraqi Kurds – to prison terms of up to 15 years for organising a major migrant-smuggling ring that transported people across the English Channel in small, flimsy boats.
The trial, held in Lille, exposed the dangers and high profits of the illegal crossings from France to England.
The defendants were apprehended in a Europe-wide police operation in 2022, leading to dozens of arrests and the seizure of boats, life jackets, outboard engines, paddles, and cash.
The longest sentence of 15 years, along with a €200,000 fine, was given to 26-year-old Iraqi Kurd Mirkhan Rasoul, identified as one of the ringleaders.
Other sentences ranged from two to 10 years in prison.
“The defendants are not volunteers helping their fellow humans but merchants of death,” the prosecutor said, describing how boats were loaded “up to 15 times their theoretical capacity”.
“These sentences are obviously very severe,” said Kamel Abbas, a lawyer for one of the defendants already jailed in France. “That’s a testimony of the scale of the case, and of the intention to severely punish the smugglers.”
Most of the accused were not present in court for the verdicts. Some followed the proceedings remotely from prisons across northern France, while others were tried in absentia, with warrants issued for their arrest.
Fourteen of the defendants were Iraqi nationals, with the others hailing from Iran, Poland, France, and the Netherlands.
All except the French defendant were barred from remaining in France after serving their sentences.
Profit was 'sole motive'
Craig Turner, deputy director of the British National Crime Agency (NCA), involved in the arrest of one of the defendants, said the network was one of the most prolific organisers of crossings.
“Their sole motive was profit, and they didn’t care about the fate of migrants they were putting to sea in wholly inappropriate and dangerous boats," Turner said.
“We are putting more resources into disrupting and dismantling the criminal gangs behind it than ever before,” Turner added.
According to a statement from the NCA, the criminal network was making approximately €100,000 from each crossing.
Deadliest crossing
The trial comes in what has been a particularly deadly year for attempted crossings of the English Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
More than 31,000 migrants have made the perilous Channel crossing so far this year – more than in all of 2023 – though fewer than in 2022.
At least 56 people have perished in the attempts this year, according to French officials, making 2024 the deadliest since the crossings began to surge in 2018.
Despite French and British efforts to stop it, the route remains a major smuggling corridor for people fleeing conflict or poverty.
Migrants favour the UK for reasons of language, family ties, or perceived easier access to asylum and work.
Tafficking 'on par with terrorism'
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants are also pushing many migrants north.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for international cooperation against smuggling gangs, likening the issue to a global security threat on par with terrorism.
Starmer told a conference of international police organisation Interpol that “people-smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism”.
He added that intelligence and law-enforcement agencies should try to “stop smuggling gangs before they act” in the same way they do in counterterrorism operations.
