‘Merchants of death’ people-smuggling gang jailed

Eighteen members of a people-smuggling gang accused of arranging thousands of small boat English Channel crossings have been jailed in France.

The group – which prosecutors described as “merchants of death” – comprised mostly of Iraqi Kurds and were prosecuted after a Europe-wide operation in 2022 which led to arrests in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Mirkhan Rasoul, the gang’s ringleader, received the longest sentence among those convicted at a court in Lille on Tuesday.

The other defendants included one woman, and an Iranian man who was arrested in the UK and subsequently extradited to France.

For several years, the gang controlled most of the small boat crossings from northern France.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said the gang – thought to be behind as many as 10,000 Channel crossings – was “among the most prolific” they had come across.

More than 100 boats, 1,000 life jackets, engines and cash were seized as part of the international operation.