In six hours of hearings at the Paris Criminal Court, Mujahid defended himself numerous times: "I’m not a smuggler," he declared. "If I were I were a smuggler, I wouldn’t have shown up today," or "I was just selling cigarettes," and finally, "all I did was help people." 

The hearings for a trial of 14 suspected smugglers over one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in the Channel had already been underway for several days. At least 31 people drowned in the tragedy.

"Sir, the court will decide whether you were a smuggler or not. You can keep saying that you aren’t a smuggler, but it won’t make a difference," the presiding judge told him in court.

The charges against Mujahid S. are extensive: involuntary manslaughter, causing injury, endangering others and aiding illegal residence as part of an organized group. Like many of the other 14 defendants, he faces up to 10 years in prison and has already spent two years behind bars in connection with this case.

Mujahid allegedly played the role of a negotiator for the crossing in the November 2021 tragedy. In the police investigation which relied on telephone tapping, audio surveillance of his vehicle and witness accounts, investigations revealed that he quoted prices for Channel crossings and kept the migrants' money during their journey to England. He later transferred the funds to higher-ranking smugglers. 

'Send me a picture of the large 18-meter-long boat'

In the days leading up to the shipwreck, Mujahid was in regular contact with Obaidullah M., known as Obaid. This principal defendant remains at large. "I wanted to talk to you about 'OK' (a way of talking about 'depositing the money') for a 'game' (a crossing)," Mujahid told Obaid on November 13, after individuals wishing to make the crossing toward the United Kingdom contacted him.

The next day, Mujahid sent another message to Obaid: "Send me a picture of the large 18-meter-long boat with the photos of the families." Obaid sent him a picture of a recreational boat. The inflatable boat didn't resemble the small boats migrants usually use to cross the Channel. The 33 people involved in the tragedy the night between November 23 and 24 ended up boarding a six-meter inflatable boat with a capacity for only eight people.

On the evening of November 23, the vessel of poor quality equipped with "inflation valves in bad condition," sagged under the immense weight of the people on board. It began to deflate a few hours after leaving the French coast. Severely underpowered, the 40-horsepower motor later stopped. Despite the lifejackets of bad quality provided by the smugglers, the passengers drowned one after the other, including a woman and her three children. The youngest child was a seven-year-old. Only two men survived that night. Traumatized, they haven’t yet attended the trial. 

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Mujahid was unaware the boat had capsized when it happened. His phone number stopped working the evening the migrants set out for sea – it was another piece of incriminating evidence cited by the court's prosecutors. The following day, according to witness accounts, Mujahid S. said he had "clients" in the shipwrecked boat.

'Absolute cynicism'

Business continued despite the drama. The telephone tapping appears to have revealed that Mujahid continued to organize other crossings in the months leading up to his arrest in June 2022. The defendant was overheard in April 2022 saying: "If you want a serious 'game,' pay 3,000 pounds (about 3,500 euros) and your brother will have a smooth trip alongside other families." A few days later, police recorded him saying: "Send the travelers over, my friend; there are plenty of them, and you’ll make at least 1,000 euros off each one. It will be 500 for me and 500 for you."

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Questioned over these phone calls during the hearings, Mujahid embroiled himself in nebulous explanations. After maintaining that he had "never even earned a euro" from the migrants that he "helped," he backtracked more. "If I had been a smuggler, I wouldn’t have made 500 euros, but 5 000, 10 000, 20 000," said the defendant.

The presiding judge began running out of patience with this account. "If it wasn’t the work of a smuggler, one can certainly consider that it looked a lot like it," she said.

"Despite the incriminating elements with which the defendant was accused, he never accepted any responsibility [over what happened]. It's intolerable for the families of the victims we represent," said Maître Chirez, a lawyer for the 114 civil parties. "It highlights his utter cynicism, since he sent photos to migrants suggesting the "18-meter-long vessel" was sturdy and safe. Even after the deaths of those 31 people, he continued organizing crossings right up until when he was arrested."

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'A dangerous individual'

After arriving in France in 2019 to "join the French army," Mujahid said he was also "assisted" on his journey from Afghanistan. He arrived in Paris on his own and lived in a makeshift camp in the area of La Chapelle in the French capital. Since he had been previously registered in Germany under the Dublin Regulation, Mujahid was ineligible for legal status in France.

According to evidence presented in the trial, he turned to cigarette smuggling, selling his merchandise at train stations in the Paris region. He eventually applied for asylum, but by the time his interview date at the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) arrived, Mujahid was already in prison. His asylum application was automatically rejected.

Through reports and transcripts of phone calls read out loud to the court by the presiding judge, Mujahid’s character as a violent person gradually became apparent: "I swear to you, you see the stabbings I inflicted."

In the wiretap transcripts, the defendant also claimed he was capable of "running people over with his car." He also said he beat up a Pakistani man who didn’t pay him: "I hit the big guy twice."

"I said that because I was drunk," claimed Mujahid on the stand, without convincing anyone.

During police questioning, some of his co-defendants portrayed him as "a dangerous person." Zameer K., nicknamed "King," told police about Mujahid's attempt to intimidate him. "He threatened me (in the waiting room of the commissariat). He told me to say the boat was mine, to take responsibility for everything [. . . ] I’m afraid of him. If he goes to prison, he can contact people and put me in danger. He keeps an axe and baseball bats in his car. He easily gets into fights."

Mujahid’s jaw contracted as he listened to the statement. "King is going to have to clarify why he said that," he said.

Zameer K. was seated just behind Mujahid in the courtroom, and dressed the same way, in sweatpants and a light blue polo shirt. He waited for his turn to come, his head lowered. He is the next defendant on the list to be heard in court. The court’s deliberation on the trial is scheduled for September 30.  

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