A French court this week sentenced nine human traffickers from Afghanistan for smuggling migrants across the Channel to the UK on dinghies in 2021.
The Paris court sentenced the nine in connection with the smuggling of 53 mainly Vietnamese and Afghan migrants across the English Channel and the penalties ranged from suspended sentences of eight months to six years in prison and fines of between €1,000 and €30,000.
One of the nine, a 30-year-old who had been convicted of having orchestrated the crossings, was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to be expelled from France once he had served his term.
Three other defendants were sentenced to five years and fined €25,000 each. The court also ordered that they should be deported afterwards. Another five men were handed lesser penalties and will not go to prison. The defendants are aged between 21 and 39.
French media reported the prosecutor had requested harsher sentences, alleging that the defendants had “knowingly endangered the lives of others.” But the men’s defense team stressed that they had been forced to flee a war-torn country ruled by the Taliban and were living in poverty.
The UK government meanwhile said earlier this year that in 2022, more than 45,000 people were found to have crossed the channel illegally from France.
