French court finds 18 human traffickers guilty, sentences ringleader to 15 years in prison
The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, stated this week that human smuggling should be considered as a global security threat akin to terrorism.
An 18 people have been convicted by a French court for smuggling illegal immigrants across the English Channel to the UK.
Of the 18 defendants, 14 are from Iraq, while the rest are of French, Polish, Dutch, and Iranian descent.
One of the main organizers, originally from Iraq, received a 15-year prison sentence and a fine of 200,000 euros ($218,000) from the court in Lille, northern France.
The other offenders were handed prison sentences ranging from two to 10 years.
The severity of the sentences reflects the scale of the case and the intention to punish the smugglers harshly, according to defense lawyer Kamel Abbas.
The smuggling ring was uncovered by the OLTIM, a specialized French police unit focusing on immigration crime, with assistance from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and law enforcement in multiple countries.
Related Stories
The NCA revealed that among those convicted in Lille was 40-year-old Kaiwan Poore, who was apprehended at Manchester airport in July 2022 while attempting to board a flight to Turkey.
The network was headed by an Iranian national, Hewa Rahimpur, who was captured in London in May 2022, extradited to Belgium, and eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison in October 2023.
NCA’s Deputy Director Craig Turner stated in an email that this network was one of the most active in terms of organizing crossings and their main motive was profit, showing no regard for the lives of migrants they put at risk.
