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French court tries 9 Afghans over Channel people smuggling

Nine Afghans have gone on trial in France accused of attempting to smuggle migrants across the Channel to Britain in 2021.

French court tries 9 Afghans over Channel people smuggling
Nine people are in court in France on people smuggling charges. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

The case is the latest as Britain and France seek to clamp down on small boat crossings into the United Kingdom on a perilous route that has become increasingly used since 2018.

The men, whose trial opened in Paris on Tuesday, are accused of having helped 53 mainly Vietnamese and Afghan migrants set off on the dangerous sea crossing on dinghies on four occasions between January and March 2021.

Four were being tried for a leading role in the smuggling operations, while another five were accused of having played a secondary role.

They have been charged with organised support for illegal immigration.

Several of the defendants were suspected of having bought dinghies as well as life jackets and then depositing them in sand dunes near the seaside town of Wimereux, according to the charge sheet.

One of the defendants, who did not appear in court, told investigators about a dinghy launch he witnessed.

A passenger designated as the boat’s captain did not have to pay for his passage, while a second, tasked with navigating the vessel using GPS, only
paid half price, according to his statement read out during the hearing.

All the rest paid between €1,500 and €4,000 each, the charge sheet showed.

In all four cases, the passengers were rescued either in French or British waters.

According to the British government, more than 45,000 migrants arrived on the shores of southeast England on small boats in 2022.

The previous year, more than 28,000 people were detected arriving.

In November 2021, at least 27 people drowned when their dinghy deflated during the journey. They were mostly Kurds from Iraq and included a child aged seven.

The investigation into that case is still ongoing.

In December 2019, a French court jailed two smugglers – an Afghan and a Dutchman of Guinean origin – for six and three years for manslaughter and aiding illegal migration after a 31-year-old Iranian woman drowned during a crossing.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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