They charged 3,500 euros per person to cross the Channel in makeshift boats.
On Tuesday, the police dismantled a network of Afghan smugglers who organized crossings from Calais for illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to a police source, four smugglers - two in Stains (Seine-Saint-Denis), one in Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d'Oise), and one in Ussel (Corrèze) were arrested.
Two other people, presented as sleep merchants, were also arrested in Stains.
Investigators were able to uncover this network following anonymous information received during the rescue on October 28 of a makeshift boat which was trying to reach Great Britain with 35 migrants on board.
70,000 to 80,000 euros per boat
Candidates for crossing the Channel, most of them Afghans, were taken care of by the network in Stains, where they were accommodated in lodges.
They had to sell cigarettes on the sly to pay for their passage, explained a police source.
They were then transported to Calais, where a second cell took care of putting them on board small boats.
A man, suspected of being the ring's financier, was waiting for them when they arrived in Britain.
According to estimates, a boat brought between 70,000 and 80,000 euros to the network.
The Bobigny public prosecutor's office had opened a preliminary investigation and entrusted the investigations to the sub-directorate for the fight against illegal immigration and the group for the fight against organized crime.
Two other smugglers are currently wanted, according to the same police source.
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