By boat to Great Britain: Major raid against Iraqi-Kurdish smuggling network

With over 500 federal police officers, investigators have taken on a smuggling network run by Kurds from Iraq that sends irregular migrants across the English Channel in simple inflatable boats. The focus of the international police operation, which began in the early hours of the morning, was North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

The wanted suspects are said to have smuggled migrants from the Middle East and East Africa “in small, inferior inflatable boats” from France to Great Britain, as a federal police spokeswoman told the German Press Agency in Düsseldorf. “Bild” had previously reported. Several houses and storage rooms were searched.

The smugglers are said to have obtained the boats or components used for the dangerous crossing, some of them illegally, in Germany. That’s why it’s probably not just about smuggling, but also other crimes such as robbery and theft. According to information from security circles, there were also cases on record in which migrants were threatened with weapons by members of the network.

Arrest warrants from France

According to the federal police, the starting point for the major raid was a French investigation. The arrest warrants therefore come from a court in Lille. The federal police in North Rhine-Westphalia have been asked to execute more than ten European arrest warrants here – “as far as we can find people,” said the spokeswoman. This involves both masterminds and simple members of the network.

The large-scale operation was coordinated by the European authorities Europol and Eurojust. According to the federal police in Sankt Augustin, more than 20 French investigators and three Europol experts were also present in North Rhine-Westphalia. It became known that Gelsenkirchen, among others, was said to have been one of the locations.

There are always deaths in the English Channel

Just in February there was a major police operation against an Iraqi-Kurdish smuggling network in four federal states. The focus was again on North Rhine-Westphalia. At that time, 19 suspected smugglers were arrested. For years, large numbers of migrants have been crossing the English Channel from northern France to reach Great Britain. According to the British news agency PA, more than 33,000 people have arrived this way so far this year.

Smugglers cram people onto overcrowded rubber boats. It happens again and again that they capsize during the dangerous crossing. According to police reports, at least 72 migrants have died this year this year, as the newspaper “Le Parisien” reported last month.

New government in London wants to expand border protection

Britain’s previous Conservative government wanted to deter people from crossing by threatening to deport migrants to Rwanda to undergo an asylum procedure regardless of their origin. Courts and human rights organizations sharply criticized the plan.

The new British government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer is taking a different path. She plans to expand border protection and wants to take stronger action against smuggling gangs than before.

Why boats are sourced from Germany

In a large-scale cross-border operation, investigators in five countries had already arrested smugglers from a gang in 2022 that had smuggled thousands of people across the English Channel in rubber dinghies. At that time, large amounts of cash and firearms were discovered during searches in Germany, along with numerous inflatable boats and motors.

In the north of France, for several years now, when purchasing certain boats and boat engines, it has been necessary to present ID and provide a telephone number. This regulation was passed as a measure against smuggling into Great Britain. Therefore, the smugglers moved to Germany, among other places, to procure the boats.

“Today’s raids and arrests are another hard blow to the brutal international smuggling crime,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). “We are dealing with dangerous, often armed perpetrators here,” she added. Faeser referred to a meeting of the interior ministers of the so-called Calais Group next Tuesday in London. Further measures against smuggling crime will be discussed there. The “Calais Group” includes Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.