A sprawling network dismantled, sentences of up to 15 years in prison… This trial highlights large-scale trafficking in the Channel. How many other networks still operate in the shadows?
A vast network of Iraqi-Kurdish smugglers, suspected of having organized the clandestine crossings of more than 10,000 migrants to the English coast, has just been dismantled in the north of France. At the end of a resounding trial, the Lille court on Tuesday sentenced 18 members of this criminal group to sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
“Merchants of death” according to the prosecution
The authorities have described this network as one of the main organizers of migrant smuggling in the Channel between 2020 and 2022. Described as real “merchants of death” by the public prosecutor, its members did not hesitate to cram dozens of vulnerable people onto frail boatswell beyond their capacity, thus putting lives at risk with total disregard for the safety of passengers.
Mirkhan Rasoul, traffic mastermind
The heaviest sentence, 15 years in prison with a two-thirds security period, was handed down against Mirkhan Rasoul, a 26-year-old Iraqi presented as the mastermind of the organization. Notably, he piloted the operations from his prison cell in France, where he was already serving a sentence for assisting illegal stay.
The defendants are not volunteers helping their neighbors but merchants of death.
A prosecutor during her requisitions
A sprawling network dismantled
Fruit of a international judicial cooperation between five European countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom), the investigation led to the seizure of important equipment used by traffickers:
- 1200 life jackets
- Nearly 150 inflatable boats
- 50 boat engines
- Cash, vehicles and identity documents
Each crossing brought in around 100,000 euros for the criminals, whose sole motivation was greed, with total disregard for human life. Another leader of the network, the Iranian Hewa Rahimpur, was arrested in London and then extradited to Belgium where he received 11 years in prison in 2022.
2023, a dark year in the Channel
This trial comes as 2023 promises to be the deadliest year in the Channel, with at least 60 dead during crossing attempts since January. Shipwrecks and stampedes in overloaded canoes have become commonplace on this increasingly busy migratory route, despite the risks.
If the dismantling of this network marks a halt to trafficking, the question of illegal crossings is far from being resolved. As long as poverty and conflicts push thousands of people onto the roads of exile, other “merchants of death” will undoubtedly continue to prosper in the shadows, at the risk of human lives.
