A French court in Lille has sentenced 18 members of a smuggling gang to prison terms of up to 15 years for their role in organizing more than 10,000 illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel.
The network, largely responsible for illegal crossings from a camp in Grande-Synthe, operated between 2020 and 2022.
The trial, held between late September and early October before the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction of Lille, revealed that the gang was primarily composed of Iraqi-Kurdish members.
They had a sophisticated operation in place, purchasing boats in Turkey and storing equipment such as life jackets and boat engines in the Netherlands. Each boat, carrying up to 50 migrants, generated profits of up to €100,000.
The leader of the network, a 26-year-old Iraqi, received the heaviest sentence of 15 years in prison. He was already serving time in France for previous offenses and orchestrated the smuggling operations from his cell.
In addition to the prison term, he was fined €200,000 and given a permanent ban from French territory. The other 17 defendants, including one woman, received sentences ranging from one to 12 years in prison and fines of up to €150,000.
According to British authorities, the gang was one of the main organizers of illegal crossings into the U.K., moving thousands of migrants across the Channel.
“The gang’s sole motive was profit. They didn’t care about the fate of migrants they were putting to sea in wholly inappropriate and dangerous boats,” said the U.K.’s National Crime Agency deputy director Craig Turner, commenting on the sentences.
French authorities, with assistance from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the U.K., conducted more than 50 coordinated raids, seizing 1,200 life jackets, nearly 150 inflatable boats, and 50 boat engines. The international operation was coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, France Bleu reported.
During the trial, the prosecutor described the case as “sprawling” in its complexity and scope. It reportedly generated 67 tonnes of paperwork compiled by numerous law enforcement agencies.
The Lille court followed the prosecutor’s recommendations, handing down severe penalties in response to the gang’s scale and the humanitarian risks posed by the illegal crossings.
