Gang boss imprisoned for smuggling thousands into UK

A man in Belgium has been given a prison sentence of 11 years for leading a big group involved in smuggling people across the English Channel.

The police think that Hewa Rahimpur, who is 30 years old, was responsible for a group that brought 10,000 individuals to the UK using small boats.

Rahimpur was 23 years old when he came to Britain in 2016 and asked for protection, because he believed he would be mistreated in his country, Iran, as a Kurd.

He was given permission to remain in 2020.

Rahimpur came to the UK and was allowed to stay. He started a barbershop in London with a friend. However, he then used Britain as a hub for a large-scale criminal enterprise.

He was responsible for a group that obtained boats, engines, and life-jackets for people who wanted to cross the water as migrants. They got the material from Turkey and China and moved it to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The boats were taken to the northern coast of France and given to groups of people who wanted to move there and were waiting in Calais and Dunkirk.

The people who migrated, including women and children, were told basic instructions on how to operate the boats to reach Britain, and then started their journey across the Channel.

Some boats were extremely dangerous because they were not built properly and were held together with tape and pieces of wood.

A migration expert named Stef Janssens told the BBC that around 30 to 40 individuals were placed in each boat. Janssens mentioned that the smugglers demonstrate a complete disregard for the value of human life. It’s surprising that there are not more people dying.

It is believed that the gang from Rahimpur was responsible for nearly 10% of people illegally crossing to the UK within a period of 12 to 18 months.

Mr Janssens said that this is the first time a person in a powerful position in a network that uses small boats is being held accountable. He described the trial as a crucial step in combating global groups involved in smuggling people.

He said that this case is directly connected to the 31 people who died in the North Sea.
Mr Janssens witnessed a conversation on WhatsApp between Rahimpur and individuals on his boat who were crossing the Channel. They requested him to contact the police as they were scared for their lives.

In a message, Rahimpur said they needed to continue until they reached the waters of Britain. There, the UK Coast Guard would come and bring them to the UK.

You can understand from this conversation that these people are working really hard because if they don’t, they will earn less money.

UK’s National Crime Agency and Belgian authorities worked together to investigate a situation where some boats were found in the trunk of a car near the border between Belgium and France in October 2021.

The police caught Rahimpur in Ilford, which is in East London, in May 2022. They took away 135 boats, 45 engines, and over 1,200 life jackets.

He was arrested as a result of a joint investigation by police in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Over 40 people were taken into custody in four different countries in one of the largest law enforcement actions ever.

Rahimpur got a fine of €80,000, but experts think that his 11-year prison sentence is not likely to stop human traffickers from doing their illegal activities in the future.

People who bring people into a country illegally are getting better at what they do, making it harder for the authorities to catch them.

After Rahimpur was arrested, more people have still been coming to the UK on small boats. More than 24,200 people have travelled across the English Channel from France this year.

And many people want it.

People who move to another country give a lot of money to people who help them illegally cross the sea. A group called Rahimpur earned about €60m (£52m) in 2021 by organizing these illegal trips.

Even though there have been dangerous accidents, people are still willing to take risks and try to reach Europe on small boats. In June last year, it is believed that 500 individuals lost their lives when a boat overturned near the southern coast of Greece.

Craig Turner, who is the NCA Deputy Director, said that the criminal groups did not care about the people they were smuggling. However, he also mentioned that the agency will do everything possible to stop and break up these criminal groups bringing people to the UK.