The ‘merchants of death’ case intensifies the fight against channel smugglers

Peering over his glasses, the French judge gazed into the cavernous underground court at a familiar figure sitting in a glass cage.

“There will be no more misconduct. No more threats. Is that understandable?” asked Arabelle Bouts, the lead judge for the Europe-wide people-trafficking case so large that it has produced 67 tons of documents.

“Yes,” answered Mirkhan Rasoul, 26, calmly.

Mr. Rasoul, who already had trafficking charges and was serving an eight-year sentence for attempted murder, disrupted proceedings a few days ago by threatening two interpreters working in court. Now he was flanked by two armed policemen.

Standing next to the judge, the lead prosecutor, Julie Carros, went to her microphone, looked down at her notes, and began to present her final arguments in a tense case involving a total of 33 suspects of a Kurdish gang, who are accused of arresting dozens of migrants who crossed the Channel in small boats between 2020 and 2022.

While Mr. Rasoul remained behind the glass screen, about 10 other suspects were sitting in the open court surrounded by 15 other armed police officers, who only took out their handcuffs during the court proceedings.

“This is a case like a tent… involving merchants of death,” Ms Carros said, explaining how the gang overloaded small boats, sometimes cramming up to 15 times more people than the boats were designed to carry.

He said the result was a “tremendous” profit for the gangs, who could make up to €60,000 ($65,000; £50,000) per boat launched, almost half of those boats arriving in UK waters, leading to the proceeds of crime. group of €3.5m ($3.8m; £2.9m) a year.

The gang itself is accused of controlling a large part of the channels that cross the French coast – with its network to bring equipment from all over Europe – until, in late 2021 and 2022, its members were arrested France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, as part of the largest international operation at the time against small boat smugglers.

In total, 17 men and one woman went on trial, 12 were found guilty earlier, and three will go on trial next year.

When Ms. Carros presented the prosecution’s case against each suspect, there was disappointment among at least two relatives who were sitting in court, because of the long sentences that were being sought. The case is expected to end in early November.

“We are asking for a sentence of 15 years, a fine of €200,000 and a permanent ban on French territory,” Ms Carros said in reference to Mirkhan Rasoul, who is accused of continuing to control the gang from a prison in central France.

“We found three mobile phones in his cell,” he said, going on to describe the audio recording in which Mr Rasoul boasted that the prison in Tours “is almost like a hotel… they searched for a mobile phone but they didn’t find my phones.” The police are very kind”.

But will this major case, and the prospect of harsh sentences, be a serious obstacle to the smuggling industry which, according to the large number of small boat crossings, has continued to flourish in the years of these arrests?

Prosecutors involved in the case did not want to speak to the BBC, but Pascal Marconville, the lead prosecutor at the regional Court of Appeal in northern France, suggested the long sentences were part of a wider strategy to raise the costs of people-trafficking. gangs and their clients.

“The action taken by the French police, with the support of the investigating judges, is designed not only to prevent their actions, but also to make such activities so expensive that they lose their appeal,” said Mr. Marconville.

He explained how gangs have evolved in recent years from informal groups that support their own people to “organized networks like drug gangs”.

He went on to draw a network of different “sectors” focusing on different parts of the smuggling industry.

“It’s like chess, and they did it [the advantage] on the board. So they are always one step ahead of us. We must adapt and understand how to resist these networks. We have had a hard time with the leaders of the groups because if they were arrested and then they were able to manage their networks from the inside,” he said.

Despite the difficulties of law enforcement officers working in different countries and, for example, different laws related to bail and standards of evidence, Mr Marconville praised the cooperation between French and British officials, saying that the UK is “very willing to come up with solutions to improve cooperation”.

On the other hand, the Germans “who we always think of as the most successful people, don’t make things easy [for us]”, he noted.

But one of the defense attorneys involved in the case downplayed its impact on the small boat problem.

“Sentences are becoming more severe now. That is clear. And I think they will continue to strengthen them. Unfortunately… I have no hope because I don’t think it will stop… because in these [smuggling] people only think about money,” said Kamal Abbas.

Mr. Abbas, who is defending a man suspected of being a rogue driver of smugglers’ cars, explained that the three suspects in the case, who were released on bail last year after two years in prison, were arrested soon after in Belgium. smuggling cases.

“Nothing weakens them… they see arrest as another bump in the road,” he said.

After more than a decade of participating in smuggling trials, Mr Abbas had other concerns about their impact.

“[The real leaders] always escape. If their leader is Iraqi, he is in Iraq. If he is from Iran, he will be in Iran. But the link is usually in England, I’m sure of that. “The British authorities should look more closely at certain areas of London if they want to stop this situation,” said Mr Abbas.