One of the most notorious smugglers of people in small boats across the Channel has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Belgian court after his extradition from the UK.
Prosecutors said Hewa Rahimpur, 30, an Iranian Kurd who was granted leave to remain in the UK in 2020, was the ringleader of a gang that smuggled up to 10,000 people from northern France to the Kent coast.
A panel of three judges in Bruges jailed Rahimpur and ordered him to pay €80,000 (£69,400) that he profited directly from the crime. Prosecutors believe the total proceeds from the trade ran into millions of pounds.
Rahimpur was convicted alongside 19 other men from Germany. One man was acquitted.
A court statement issued after sentencing said Rahimpur coordinated the smuggling operation. It said: “He received money from the people to be smuggled and then passed on the names to the smugglers in northern France. He was also responsible for the payments for services rendered.”
It noted that he used the “extremely disrespectful name ‘chickens’” to describe the passengers. He also threatened violence.
The statement said Rahimpur “was aware of the entire smuggling process and was in contact with members of the organisation in all phases of the process, both with the German branch and the suppliers in Turkey”. It added: “He did not shy away from violence when profits were threatened.”
The judges also noted a number of aggravating factors, including that the victims, some of whom were children, were vulnerable to exploitation – and that their lives were endangered by the negligence of the smugglers. The judges noted the poor quality of the boats and life jackets used.
At the time of his arrest in Wanstead Park, near his home in Ilford, east London in May 2022, Rahimpur and his gang were estimated to have illegally smuggled 10,000 people across the Channel, the court heard. Rahimpur was extradited to Belgium to stand trial.
The West Flanders prosecutor’s office described the case as the “biggest ever people smuggling investigation”. It involved the seizure of 60 inflatable boats, hundreds of lifejackets, and thousands of euros.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), which led the pan-European operation, said at its peak Rahimpur’s network was responsible for up to a tenth of illegal Channel crossings. He was such a key trafficker that after his arrest there was a dip in the number of small boat crossings, the agency told reporters at a briefing this week.
At the trial last month, the court heard text messages between Rahimpur and those he was smuggling across the Channel. One passenger complained that “the boat is bad”. Rahimpur responded that this was “not important … just get to the other side”. He also advised them against calling the French coastguard, the court heard.
The three judges, Pieter Druyts, Florence Hellin and Sarah Willems, were also shown videos from Rahimpur’s phone showing families waiting at migrant camps in northern France. His phone videos played to the court also showed the delivery of dinghies from Turkey and large amounts of cash.
Craig Turner, the NCA’s deputy director of investigations, said: “Rahimpur was one of the most significant individuals that was running criminal groups involved in small boats crossings. We estimate that his network was involved in smuggling about 10,000 people into the United Kingdom.”
Rahimpur directed the smuggling network initially from a barber shop in Hither Green, south-east London, and then from a food shop he ran in Romford Road, Ilford, beneath his flat. At the time he was using a different name, reported to be Hama Khoshnaw.
Turner referred to Rahimpur as the gang’s “hawaladar” who organised financial transfers from one location to another.
He said: “Rahimpur was involved in the sourcing of boats across the whole of Europe, and then he would direct other members of his criminal organisation to take the boats to the northern French coast where migrants would be transported.”
Passengers would be charged between £3,000 and £6,000 for a place on one of Rahimpur’s boats, Turner said. It meant the gang could make up to £260,000 a boat, he said.
Turner added: “If you compare that with the drugs market, this OCG (organised criminal gang) is making an awful lot of money out of vulnerable individuals.”
Rahimpur’s lawyer, Kris Vincke, accepted that his client was involved in people smuggling. But speaking to reporters outside the court last month he claimed other people were leading the operation.
Kate Philpotts, the NCA’s senior investigating officer for the operation, said Rahimpur was a “big player” in the criminal network. She said: “I think there will be people above him. But in the ranking of his organised crime group, he’s right up there.”
Rahimpur would openly advertise boat trips across the Channel on Facebook and other social media sites, according to Turner. He said the NCA had a good relationship with social media companies who agree to take such posts down when they are alerted to them.
He added: “It is a little bit like playing whack-a-mole – once we’ve taken one down, another one comes up.”
