With the support of Eurojust and Europol, judicial and law enforcement authorities from France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have dismantled a criminal network suspected of using small boats to smuggle nearly 10,000 migrants across the English Channel over the past 12 to 18 months, the judicial cooperation agency Eurojust announced on Wednesday 6 July.
“It is believed to be the biggest ever international operation targeting small boat people smugglers says the EU’s judicial cooperation agency: Thirty-nine suspects were arrested on 5 July and over fifty locations were searched. “Seizures include 1,200 life jackets, close to 150 boats and 50 engines, several thousand euros in cash, firearms and drugs”.
The investigation started in France on 30 November 2021 after the arrest of 16 suspects. The intercepted criminal network had set up a large infrastructure in Calais, from where migrants were transported to the UK in motorboats delivered from Germany. Up to 15 boats could leave in one day.
The suspects charged on average €2,500 to €3,500 per migrant, depending on their nationality, to facilitate their transfer across the Channel. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)