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Hewa Rahimpur, 30, who was originally from Iran, ran the network
from his home in Ilford, east London, from where he sourced
small boats from Turkey and had them delivered to Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands, the NCA said.
His network would then ship them to the northern French coast to
smuggle migrants across the Channel to England.
The issue of asylum seekers arriving without permission in
Britain is a major political issue, with Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak's promise to "stop the boats" one of his priorities and
the government involved in a legal dispute on whether it can
send migrants to Rwanda.
Last year, a record 45,755 people arrived across the Channel and
more than 25,000 have been detected this year.
The NCA said Rahimpur's arrest triggered action and arrests
across Europe, with 60 inflatable boats and hundreds of life
jackets seized in Germany.
A UK court ordered his extradition to Belgium where prosecutors
said his network had charged migrants between 3,000 pounds and
6,000 pounds ($3,660 and $7,320) to make the crossing.
Another 19 people were also convicted and given jail terms
between 30 months and eight years.
"Hewa Rahimpur’s network was, at the time of his arrest, one of
the most prolific criminal groups involved in small boat
crossings, playing a part in transporting thousands of migrants
to the UK," said the NCA's Deputy Director of Investigations
Craig Turner. ($1 = 0.8201 pounds)
(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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