18 members of a vast network of smugglers in the Channel were sentenced by the Lille court to sentences ranging from one to fifteen years in prison, the culmination of long investigative work carried out jointly by France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. “Merchants of death”, also condemned to a permanent ban on territory.
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A heavy sentence, for example. This Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the court sentenced 18 members of a vast network of smugglers to sentences ranging from one year to fifteen years in prison, mainly Iraqi-Kurdish.
The investigation established that this network largely had control over migrant crossings to England from the Nord coast and Pas-de-Calais between 2020 and 2022.
In its deliberations, the court followed the prosecutor's requisitions by imposing the heaviest sentence, 15 years of imprisonment with a two-thirds security period and arrest warrant, against a 26-year-old Iraqi, Mirkhan Rasoul.
Suspected of having controlled the entire network of his prison cell in France, he was also given a permanent ban from French territory and a fine of 200,000 euros.
The 17 other defendants, including a woman, were sentenced to sentences ranging from one to twelve years' imprisonment and a fine of up to 150,000 euros. All were sentenced to permanent ban from the territory.
At the end of the trial, which was held between the end of September and the beginning of October before the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Lille, the prosecutor described a “sprawling file” with international ramifications. “The defendants are not volunteers helping their neighbors but merchants of death”had accused the prosecutor in her requisitions, describing boats loaded with passengers “up to 15 times their theoretical capacity”.
More than 50 searches led to the seizure of 1,200 life jackets, nearly 150 inflatable boats and 50 boat engines, during operations carried out jointly by France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. , coordinated by the Europol and Eurojust agencies.
At least 60 migrants have lost their lives in the Channel during attempted crossings to reach England since the start of the year, a record since the appearance of the phenomenon of crossings on makeshift canoes in 2018. Between the 1st January and November 4, 2024, 31,000 migrants managed to reach the English coasts on smallboatswhich is more than in all of 2023.
With AFP
