French court convicts 18 people in major migrant smuggling trial

A French court convicted 18 people on Tuesday in a major people smuggling trial that exposed the lucrative yet often deadly business of transporting migrants on small boats across the English Channel from France to the UK.

The defendants were charged after a 2022 pan-European police operation led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of 135 boats, more than 1,000 life jackets and large amounts of cash. They were part of a smuggling gang that is believed to have been responsible for most migrant crossings in flimsy boats from 2020 to 2022.

One of the ringleaders, from Iraq, was jailed for 15 years and fined €200,000 by the court in Lille, northern France. Other sentences ranged from two to 10 years in prison.

"These sentences are obviously very severe," said Kamel Abbas, a lawyer representing one of the defendants already imprisoned in France. "That’s a testimony of the scale of the case, and of the intention to severely punish the smugglers."

Fourteen of the 18 people convicted are from Iraq, with the others from Iran, Poland, France and the Netherlands. Most of them were not in court for the sentencing; some attended remotely from prisons in northern France, while others are not in custody.

The trial comes amid a sharp rise in migrants making the perilous journey across the English Channel, and in what has been a particularly deadly year for attempted crossings.

More than 31,000 migrants have made the Channel crossing so far this year, more than in all of 2023, although fewer than in 2022. At least 56 people have died this year, French authorities say, making 2024 the deadliest since the attempts began soaring in 2018.

Northern France is the main launchpad for migrants aiming to reach the UK, motivated by language or family ties, or because they believe getting asylum or finding work there without immigration papers will be easier than in the rest of Europe.

Tackling irregular immigration is a priority for both London and Paris. In August, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to collaborate more to crack down on migrant smuggling routes.