LILLE, France (AP) — A court in northern France will hand down verdicts Tuesday in a major trial of 18 people accused of taking part in the lucrative and often deadly smuggling trade migrants across the treacherous and busy waters between France and Great Britain
The trial in Lille has shed light on the clandestine case in what has been a particularly deadly year for the many thousands of men, women and children trying to make the crossing in small and often dangerously overloaded boats.
The 18 defendants were dragged into a pan-European operation that led to dozens of arrests in Germany, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands in July 2022.
Those arrested included the suspected leader of a network that smuggled as many as 10,000 people through the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel.
The police raids also led to the seizure of 135 boats in Germany and the Netherlands, more than 1,000 life jackets, outboard motors, packs of paddles and cash.
Migrants have long used the wide beaches of northern France as a jumping off point for attempts to reach Britain. Many prefer it as a destination because of language or family ties, or because they think it will be easier to get asylum there or find work without immigration papers. than on the continent.
The increasingly strict European asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants also drive many migrants north.
The British and French governments have worked for years to stop the risky crossings, but have failed to deter people fleeing conflict or crushing poverty. Smugglers charge thousands of euros (dollars) per person for passage.
So far this year, more than 31,000 migrants have made the dangerous crossing across the Channel. more than in all of 2023although less than in 2022. At least 56 people have done so died in the attempts French officials say 2024 will be the deadliest this year since crossings began rising in 2018.
Britain’s previous Conservative government hoped to discourage the crossing with a controversial plan to send potential asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer demolished the expensive and unrealized plan after his centre-left Labor Party won the elections in July; instead, he has emphasized the need for international political and law enforcement cooperation against human smuggling gangs.
On Monday, Starmer told a conference of the international police organization Interpol that “human trafficking should be seen as a global security threat, on a par with terrorism.” He said intelligence and law enforcement agencies should try to “stop the smuggling gangs before they take action,” in the same way they do in counter-terrorism operations.
Fourteen of the eighteen suspects in Lille are from Iraq, the others are from Iran, Poland, France and the Netherlands.
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