Police bust ‘one of largest’ Channel migrant smuggling networks

German police assisted by French and Belgian authorities have rolled up "one of the largest migrant smuggling networks" operating in the Channel, arresting 19 suspects in the international operation, Europol said on Thursday.

Published: 22 February 2024 16:54 CET

Police bust 'one of largest' Channel migrant smuggling networks

An illustration image of German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) checking a migrant near Forst, eastern Germany in October 2023. (Photo by JENS SCHLUETER / AFP)

“The investigation focused on an Iraqi-Kurdish network suspected of smuggling Middle-Eastern and East African irregular migrants from France to the UK with the use of low quality inflatable boats,” Europe’s policing agency said in a statement.

Police in Germany on Wednesday swooped on 19 homes and nine storage facilities. They seized 12 inflatable boats, 179 life vests, 81 flotation devices for children, 60 air pumps, 11 outboard mounts, 10 engines, almost 60 electronic devices, arms and cash.

A probe into the gang’s activities started in late 2022, identifying the structure and operations of the organisation made up of Iraqi and Syrian nationals of Kurdish origin, the Hague-based Europol said.

“The suspects, all based in Germany, organised the purchase, storage and transportation of inflatable boats for their subsequent use to smuggle migrants from the beaches near the French city of Calais towards the UK,” Europol said.

The low-quality boats, made mostly in China and “not suitable nor safe for the transportation of more than 10 individuals”, often carried as many as 50 people.

In total, the investigators have gathered evidence linking at least 55 departures that were facilitated solely by this smuggling network, Europol said, saying the criminals charged between 1,000 and 3,000 euros per migrant “for a place on the dangerous vessel”.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.