A man believed to have overseen an operation responsible for smuggling around 10,000 individuals to the United Kingdom as part of a Pan-European network has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in Belgium, according to Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
Hewa Rahimpur, aged 30 and originally from Iran, directed the human trafficking network from his residence in Ilford, east London. From this base, he sourced small boats from Turkey, which were subsequently delivered to Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as reported by the NCA.
The network would then utilize these vessels to transport migrants to the northern French coast, facilitating their illegal crossing into England.
The issue of asylum seekers entering the United Kingdom without authorization has become a significant political concern. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” one of his top priorities. The government has also been embroiled in a legal dispute regarding whether it can deport migrants to Rwanda.
In the past year, a record number of 45,755 people arrived in the UK via the Channel, with more than 25,000 individuals detected this year.
Rahimpur’s arrest triggered a coordinated response, leading to arrests and the seizure of 60 inflatable boats and hundreds of life jackets in Germany.
Following his arrest, a UK court ordered his extradition to Belgium, where prosecutors disclosed that his network had charged migrants between £3,000 and £6,000 ($3,660 and $7,320) for facilitating their crossing.
Nineteen other individuals associated with the network were also convicted and received prison sentences ranging from 30 months to eight years.
Deputy Director of Investigations at the National Crime Agency (NCA), Craig Turner, remarked, “Hewa Rahimpur’s network was, at the time of his arrest, one of the most prolific criminal groups involved in small boat crossings, playing a part in transporting thousands of migrants to the UK.”
