The 20 suspects sentenced in a court in Bruges, Belgium on October 18 are accused of having smuggled up to 10,000 migrants across the English Channel, stated the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation Eurojust in a press release.

The suspects were rounded up in a cross-border operation in July 2022, with police forces working together in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, with the support of both Eurojust and Europol, the EU agency for law enforcement cooperation.

According to Eurostat the group formed part of an organized crime group and is believed to have smuggled, among others, Vietnamese nationals into the UK. According to prosecutors, they had a large infrastructure, buying motorized boats in Germany and transporting the boats and then people from the French and Belgian coasts across the Channel to the UK.

One of the men accused of master-minding the ring had been granted asylum in the UK, report British media, including the BBC. The 30-year-old man, named as Hewa R. is reported to have arrived in Britain in 2016 and claimed asylum stating that he was an Iranian Kurd. He claimed he would face persecution back home if forced to return.

Cross-border operation

In 2020, the UK granted Hewa R. leave to remain. The BBC reported he then set up a barber’s shop with a friend in London, and is alleged to have used the UK as a base to operate the smuggling ring.

Prosecutors accuse him of being in charge of the gang that sourced boats, engines and life jackets for the crossings. They ordered material for their operation in Turkey and China and then transported it to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, reports the BBC.

The boats were brought to northern France where they set off with groups of migrants on board from Calais and Dunkirk and the surrounding beaches. According to prosecutors, the migrants transported on the boats included women and children. Groups were given basic information about how to use the boats and navigate the Channel.

Also read: Inside France's battle against migrant smugglers

Some of the boats used in the operations were deemed unsafe, reportedly being held together using gaffer tape and planks of wood.

'The smugglers show no respect for human life'

A migration expert, Stef Janssens, told the BBC that between 30 and 40 people were put in each boat. "The smugglers show no respect for human life. It’s actually amazing that there are not more deaths."

In a 12-month period, in which the gang is thought to have operated, Hewa R.'s gang is thought to have been responsible for almost 10% of all the Channel crossings.

"It's the first time a leading figure of a network using small boats is facing justice," Janssens told the BBC. He added that "this case can be linked directly with 31 people who died in the North Sea."

Hewa R. was sentenced to 11 years in prison and handed an €80,000 fine. Prosecutors, said Mr Janssens, had access to WhatsApp messages between the alleged smugglers and the migrants. In one exchange Janssens said he saw migrants tell Hewa R. they are afraid of dying and ask him to call the police. He replies they should keep going until they reach British waters.

'These people are really pushing because otherwise they make less money'

"From this exchange you can tell these people are really pushing because otherwise they make less money," Janssens told the BBC.

When Hewa R. was arrested in Ilford in east London in May 2022, police say they seized 135 boats, 45 engines and more than 1,200 life jackets.

Also read: Suspected migrant smuggler jailed in France

Police believe, reported the BBC, that the gang Hewa R. is alleged to have run, generated almost €60 million in revenue in 2021 alone. According to Sky News, Hewa R. is thought to have charged up to €6,200 for a crossing. Some of the fullest crossings are thought to have netted the gang up to €220,000.

Hewa R. himself used a lorry to cross the Channel, reported Sky News. His initial barber business reportedly failed and he then set up a small food shop which did better as many people were paying Hewa R. for trips across the Channel using the Hawala banking system, reported Sky News.

'One of the most significant individuals involved in small boat crossings'

They are thought to have recruited people via social media and via word of mouth recommendations. Craig Turner, the deputy director of the UK’s National Crime Agency called Hewa R "one of the most significant individuals involved in small boat crossings."

Turner added that he felt Hewa R. and his gang treated people "like a commodity. He just thought about the money, not the safety of the people he was taking across the Channel. That was the business model he profited from."

Also read: Why do migrants choose smugglers to cross the Mediterranean

Turner added that Hewa R. was a "big player" although admitted there will also be people above him in the organized crime group in which he is alleged to have operated. Turner admitted that the convictions in Belgium would not stop people crossing the Channel and using smugglers. "It’s like a vacuum. Once we take down one, another one pops up," he told Sky News. "The thing with these smuggling gangs is that it’s dynamic. They are ever-evolving."

During the trial, Hewa R. admitted to processing payments between smugglers and migrants, but denied that he was a boss. But according to Sky news, quoting "multiple sources," Hewa R. lied about his identity when he reached Britain and is "in fact a well-known figure in the smuggling world." They say instead of being Iranian, he is in fact an Iraqi Kurd, but claimed to be Iranian to improve his chances of asylum.

'He seemed a friendly young man'

An unnamed people smuggler in Kurdistan told Sky News that the man is known by another name and is in fact from Erbil. Hewa R. is in custody in Belgium, where he has been held ever since he was extradited from the UK in 2022. He has complained about prison conditions in Belgium and even staged a hunger strike at one stage to protest these conditions.

The left-leaning newspaper The Guardian quoted people who knew Hewa R. in east London, saying he seemed like a "friendly young man, who, like many immigrants in the area was struggling to get by." His landlady, Linda, told the newspaper that he was "nice to everyone around here, to be honest."

Also read: Nine Afghans jailed for migrant smuggling in France

The Guardian quotes the NCA’s senior investigating officer in the case against Hewa R. Kate Philpotts. According to Philpotts, Hewa R. had no prior criminal activity in his past but is thought to have turned to smuggling because he realized it was a way to make large sums of money. "He was entrepreneurial and decided to make money out of it, as he had paid money to get here himself," suggests Philpotts.

Investigations continue, say NCA

When he was arrested by the NCA in May 2022, police say there was little sign of the sums of money he is accused of having made. Although he was in the process of buying an expensive car. The NCA described his life as "modest", and he told investigators he had a partner and child, although since then "there is no evidence since of any family in the UK," writes The Guardian.

According to a press statement by the NCA, released on October 18, the crime agency currently has 90 similar investigations into gangs like the one Hewa R. is alleged to have run. The gangs, said Turner from the NCA, use both boats and lorries to smuggle people into Britain.