German police, assisted by French and Belgian authorities, have busted “one of the largest” migrant smuggling networks operating across the English Channel, Europol said Thursday.
"The investigation focused on an Iraqi-Kurdish network suspected of smuggling Middle Eastern and East African irregular migrants from France to the U.K. with the use of low-quality inflatable boats," a statement issued by Europe's policing agency said.
The investigation involved Europol’s Operational Task Force Wave with coordination by Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
The probe stemmed from a French and Belgian judicial order, initiated in Germany, that resulted in 19 arrests in Germany and raids at 28 locations. The probe, which began at the end of 2022, revealed the intricate structure and operational methods of a significant criminal network, all of whose suspects were in Germany, investigators said.
Since 2019, the prevalence of migrant smuggling via small boats has steadily risen, becoming the primary method for transporting migrants from the EU to the U.K. in 2021. Criminal networks orchestrating these activities remain highly active and sometimes violent while finding new ways of crossing the channel, according to Eurojust.
When used legally, such as for fishing or sailing, each of the small, inflatable boats should hold no more than 10 people, Europol said. However, smugglers were charging the equivalent of $1,000 to $3,000 dollars per migrant to ride on a boat with up to 50 passengers. According to Eurojust, the investigation found that the network facilitated at least 55 departures.
The intensified law enforcement efforts have resulted in a notable decrease of more than 30% in incidents and smuggled migrants in 2023 compared with 2022. In 2023, authorities counted nearly 61,000 migrants attempting to illegally cross the English Channel via small boats, down from approximately 79,000 in 2022.
Still, British authorities say that in 2023, 30,000 irregular migrants reached the U.K.
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and the Reuters news agency.
