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Video length: 4 min
Migrants: how smuggler networks are organized
Migrants: how smuggler networks are organized
(France 2)
European authorities have uncovered a vast Iraqi-Syrian network, involved in numerous Channel crossings. 19 people were arrested. A well-established illegal activity.
One of the most active smuggling networks in the north of France was dismantled a month ago by European authorities. 19 people from Iraq and Syria were arrested in Germany. Around twenty inflatable boats, motors and life jackets were seized. Smuggler networks have taken nearly 30,000 migrants across the Channel in 2023. A place on board can cost up to 3,000 euros. So, smugglers offer their services to refugees as soon as they arrive on the French coast.
A business that pays big
For candidates for exile, this is a perfectly well-established procedure. According to investigators, the network heads are most often located in the United Kingdom or Germany. They buy boats at low cost in China and then transport them to Turkey, then to warehouses in Germany. Small hands are then responsible for the transfer to the French coasts. “They will effectively adapt to the work of police officers as well as to our methods of investigation”, deplores Guirec Le Bras, prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais). Particularly profitable traffic. A single boat loaded with 60 people can bring in nearly 200,000 euros.
