Five people were sentenced this Friday, November 5 by the court of Boulogne-sur-Mer for having participated in an important network of passage of migrants from the coasts of the region to the English coasts, between the end of last year and the end of end of summer. Three men and two women, all arrested in September, were sentenced to between 18 months suspended prison sentence and 2 years in prison.
A “well-established” network
This is one in five migrant boats from the North and Pas-de-Calais coasts this year which was supplied by this delivery network. Thanks to him, 2,600 migrants were able to attempt the crossing, more than 1,500 managed to reach the English coast.
Everything was organized from a hangar in Quesnoy sur Deûle, in the Lille metropolitan area. Inside, a genuine navigation kit prep factory. In each of the 80 kits made on site: an inflatable boat, 4 cans of gasoline, 40 life jackets, and an inflator. The police seizure of the hangar last September was the largest seizure of nautical equipment ever in France.
Equipment from Germany and the Netherlands, transported from the hangar to the beaches of Wissant, Sangatte or Leffrinckoucke by a fleet of around thirty drivers. “Without them, the network cannot run“, insists the prosecutor, who describes a system”well-honed“, very organized, where everyone had their place.
Puzzle pieces still missing
These drivers went back and forth at night. Aged in their twenties, mostly from the region, they received text messages with the places to go: “Here we go, we don’t know what happens before or what happens after“, defends a young man at the bar. “They are young people who do not ask questions“, drive the defense lawyers. “Boats aren’t like drugs or money, they say they didn’t know it was illegal to carry them.“One of them even thought at the beginning of working for a humanitarian association.
For each ride they earned 200 to 300 euros. Not large sums, “but they are not small smugglers, their activity lasted for several months“, attacks the prosecutor. The fact remains that the thinking head of the network, a man suspected of having amassed several million euros, was not arrested. “You can’t finish a puzzle if you don’t have all the pieces.“, concludes a defense lawyer.