London [UK], January 8: A major supplier of small boats and engines believed to be used in thousands of Channel crossings to the UK has been jailed for 11 years and fined $467,000.
Turkish national Adem Savas, 45, was sentenced at a Belgian court on Wednesday after a joint operation between the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Belgian authorities.
The NCA believe in 2023 Savas will have supplied equipment used in around half of all Channel crossings, making him the agency's most wanted man as a key player in European people smuggling circles.
He is thought to have made millions from charging an average of £4,000 per package in his operations between 2019 until his arrest in 2024.
Savas was first flagged to the NCA when investigating the now jailed ringleader of a people smuggling gang, Hewa Rahimpur, responsible for moving 10,000 migrants in small boat crossings to the UK.
Evidence found by investigators on Rahimpur's phones showed the pair were in regular contact, including an exchange of messages and pictures of a white rubber boat in November 2021 after the deaths of 27 migrants in the Channel, along with a screen grab of a news website showing how an identical boat had been used in the deadly crossing.
Investigators have not been able to directly link any deaths to Savas.
Savas was arrested at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on November 13 2024 and extradited to Belgium where he admitted offences of people smuggling and being a member of an organized crime group on December 3 last year.
Source: Qatar Tribune
