Crime kingpin masterminded thousands of perilous small boat crossings from jail

A people smuggling network jointly masterminded by an crime kingpin from jail has been smashed after reportedly being behind 10,000 perilous small boat Channel crossings.

The incarcerated ringleader has had 15 years added to his jail term, with a string of his associates jailed after 18 defendants were found guilty at a trial in France.

The gang stood to gain about £83,000 in profit from each crossing.

The group was prosecuted by the court in Lille in the wake of a Europe-wide police operation in July 2022 that led to dozens of arrests in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with more than 100 boats, 1,000 life jackets, engines and huge amounts of cash seized.

The co-leader of the gang, Mirkhan Rasoul, was fined 200,000 euros (£167,709) in addition to being handed the longest jail sentence of all the defendants. He ran the organisation by phone from a prison cell in France, where he is serving an eight year sentence for attempted murder and previous smuggling offences.

He worked with Iranian asylum seeker Hew Rahimpur, 30, who was directing operations from his home in Ilford, east London, sourcing boats in Turkey and having them delivered to locations in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Rahimpur, who was jailed for 11 years last year after being arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) , would then direct other members of his criminal organisation to take them on to the northern French coast, from where migrants would be transported.

The NCA also arrested key player Kaiwan Poore, 40, while he was trying to board a flight to Turkey at Manchester Airport in July 2022 before extraditing him to France for the trial.

NCA deputy director Craig Turner said: “This network was among the most prolific we have come across in terms of the number of crossings they were able to organise.

“Their sole motive was profit, and they didn’t care about the fate of migrants they were putting to sea in wholly inappropriate and dangerous boats.”

The convictions come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the Government will “treat people smugglers like terrorists” as he announced a further £75million for his border security command during a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow.

The trial shone a light on the secretive business operations that have proven deadly for many men, women and children who attempt the dangerous crossing through the busiest shipping lane in the world crammed onto overcrowded and flimsy dinghies.

The trial saw them charged with facilitating Channel crossings between France and the UK, with the boats and other equipment being transferred from Germany and the Netherlands to beaches in northern France.

The sentences ranged from a one-year suspended sentence, with Poore handed five years behind bars.

The case concluded as Channel crossings continued, with pictures showing a steady stream of people wearing life jackets being brought ashore from a Border Force boat in Dover, Kent, throughout the day.

Both the French and UK coastguards said they were monitoring activity in the Channel amid good weather conditions.

More than 600 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey so far in November, with crossings recorded by the Home Office over three days.

The latest figures show 178 people arrived in three boats on Monday.

More than 5,400 people arrived after crossing the Channel in October, making it the busiest month of the year so far.

The provisional total for the year so far is 31,272, up 17% on this time last year (26,699) but down 22% on 2022 (39,929) – a record high year for crossings.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has not committed to a target or timeframe for curbing Channel crossings but pledged the Government would “try and make progress as rapidly as possible”.

But the journey is becoming even more perilous.

The number of people who have died while trying to cross the Channel this year now stands at 50, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard, with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) gathering details on 11 more migrant deaths believed to be linked to crossing attempts so far in 2024.

The NCA said it was putting more resources into tackling the criminal gangs behind Channel crossings “than ever before” and this was a “key priority” for the law enforcement agency. It said it is currently running around 70 live investigations into networks or individual suspects in the “top tier of organised immigration crime”.

Mr Turner added: “International co-operation is crucial in the fight against organised immigration crime, and working with the French and others we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the gangs involved.”