Lionel Gougelot, edited by Laura Laplaud 11:25 a.m., July 07, 2022
39 people were arrested in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands during a vast police operation as part of the dismantling of a network of smugglers.
The investigation began in France last year from the arrest of smugglers who were crossing the Channel to migrants on inflatable boats.
This is the first time that such an investigation has made it possible to put an entire network out of play, from small hands to contractors.
39 people were arrested in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands as part of the dismantling of a network of smugglers.
The network allowed the clandestine passage of at least 10,000 migrants
The investigation began last year in France after the arrest of smugglers who were carrying migrants across the Channel on inflatable boats.
Extended to European level, it was detailed on Wednesday in The Hague, at the headquarters of Eurojust, the organization for European judicial cooperation.
The network was of such importance that it is estimated to have enabled the clandestine passage to England on small boats of at least 10,000 migrants over the past 18 months.
Traffic on an almost industrial scale, a sprawling organization from Germany to the coast of Hauts-de-France.
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A turnover generated of 15 million euros
"This organization supervised the transport of migrants of all nationalities to the beaches by drivers and the transport of boats from Germany and the Netherlands", details the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne, at the head of the jurisdiction. who conducted the investigation.
"The use of locally established accomplices, whether owners of buildings and apartments, mechanics, car dealers. This organization also supervised the sea crossings themselves," she explains.
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A lucrative traffic which, for prices varying from 2,000 to 3,500 euros per crossing, would have generated a turnover of 15 million euros.
With colossal means: 150 boats, 50 engines, 1,200 life jackets stored in Germany were seized during searches.
The head of the network, a 26-year-old Kurdish-Iraqi was arrested on Monday in the United Kingdom.
Investigations are continuing, but it does not seem that this organization is involved in the sinking of the boat which killed 27 people in the English Channel last November.