The culmination of Hewa Rahimpur’s illicit operations in 2022 embroiled multiple European countries in an extensive police initiative. This 30-year-old man faced an 11-year imprisonment sentence in Belgium, a byproduct of his control over a particularly nefarious human trafficking network notorious for smuggling people across the English Channel.
Authorities identified Rahimpur as the architect behind a comprehensive scheme manipulating small boats to transport an estimated 10,000 individuals to the United Kingdom. His journey commenced at the tender age of 23 when he sought asylum in Britain in 2016 under the guise of an Iranian Kurd threatened with persecution in his homeland.
Once granted the right to stay in 2020, Rahimpur, permitted to remain in the United Kingdom, masterminded an extensive criminal operation using Britain as the epicenter. The seemingly innocuous front, a barber’s shop in London, concealed the breadth and depth of his far-reaching operation.
Commander of a skilled gang, Rahimpur procured boats, engines, and life-jackets critical for migrant crossings. Raw materials gathered from disparate regions—Turkey, China—were transported to key locations in Europe such as Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. These vessels were then ferried to the shores of northern France, where they awaited pick-up by desperate migrant groups spanning Calais to Dunkirk.
The smuggled included women and children, handed rudimentary instructions for steering the vessels towards Britain. With the English Channel as their journey’s path, they set sail in vessels barely held together with adhesive tape and wooden planks.
Migration expert Stef Janssens revealed the disturbing reality: 30 to 40 individuals crammed into each boat, facing perilous conditions, courtesy of smugglers devoid of regard for human life. He remarked, “It’s actually amazing that there are not more deaths.”
Rahimpur’s gang reportedly spearheaded approximately 10% of UK crossings within a 12 to 18-month timeframe, a haunting statement of their influence. Mr. Janssens underscored the gravity of Rahimpur’s trial, painting it as a pivotal moment in battling international people-smuggling networks. He traced this case directly to 31 North Sea casualties.
In a chilling recount of a WhatsApp conversation, Mr. Janssens relayed the desperate pleas of trafficked individuals to Rahimpur, imploring him to involve the police as they feared imminent death. Rahimpur callously dismissed their pleas, urging them to continue onward until they reached British waters, promising they’d be picked up by the UK Coast Guard.
The diligent joint investigation conducted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK and Belgian authorities shed light on Rahimpur’s operations, leading to his apprehension in East London in May 2022. The operation yielded 135 boats, 45 engines, and over 1,200 life jackets.
His arrest sparked a synchronized investigation involving multiple police factions across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, resulting in the arrest of more than 40 people across four countries in one of the grandest law enforcement operations ever executed.
Despite a crippling €80,000 fine and an 11-year jail term, authorities remain skeptical about whether such punitive measures deter future human traffickers. Sophisticated people-smuggling networks continue weaving their web, proving increasingly challenging to dismantle. Following Rahimpur’s arrest, the onslaught of people arriving in the UK by small boats remained unabated, with over 24,200 individuals crossing the English Channel from France this year alone.
The high demand is fuelled by the astronomical sums that migrants shell out to secure a spot on these illegal boats. Rahimpur’s operation alone raked in almost €60m (£52m) in 2021. Even gruesome accidents, such as the one off the coast of southern Greece in June, where approximately 500 individuals died when their boat capsized, have failed to deter individuals desperate to reach Europe.
In an impassioned message, NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner expressed his utter disregard for the blatant apathy exhibited by these criminal networks. He reaffirmed his agency’s vow to disrupt and dismantle these rings, threatening the fabric of society with their exploitative crimes.
