Smuggling ring suspected of bringing 10,000 Kurdish migrants to UK halted
French authorities began demolishing the makeshift refugee camp in the outskirts of the port city Calais in 2016 – known as “The Jungle” among the thousands displaced there – after a court decision.
Despite the French decision to demolish the refugee camp, thousands of migrants have continued to risk their lives as they attempt to cross the passage to the UK by boats, Reuters reported.
In October 2019, the body of a 17-year-old Kurd from the Kurdistan Region was found on a beach in Touquet, France. Another body of a 22-year-old Iraqi man was found on the same day, The Independent reported.
Eurojust said it financed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and organized a coordination center “to support the French and Dutch authorities in rolling out actions on the ground.”
“Two coordination meetings were organized to prepare this week’s operation,” Eurojust said, adding it “also provided support with the execution of European Arrest Warrants.”
Investigations revealed a link to a suspect running an illegal money transfer banking system in the Netherlands, the statement said, “which was partly used for the payment of transporting migrants.”
According to Eurojust’s findings, migrants would pay up to 7,000 Euros each to travel illegally to the UK.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany