Posted on 05/10/2024 10:19:37 AM PDT by RandFan
I am sitting in a shopping mall in Iraq, face-to-face with one of Europe’s most notorious people-smugglers.
His name is Barzan Majeed, and he is wanted by police forces in several countries, including the UK.
Over the course of our conversation - both here and the next day at his office - he says he does not know how many migrants he has transported across the English Channel.
“Maybe a thousand, maybe 10,000. I don’t know, I didn’t count.”
The meeting is the culmination of what had seemed like an impossible task a few months earlier.
Together with Rob Lawrie, a former soldier who works with refugees, I had set out to find and question the man known as Scorpion.
For several years, he and his gang controlled much of the people-smuggling trade - in boats and lorries - across the English Channel.
More than 70 migrants have died making the crossing by boat since 2018 - last month, five people were killed off the French coast, including a seven-year-old girl.
It is a dangerous journey, but for the smugglers it can be very lucrative.
They can charge £6,000 per person for a boat crossing - and with nearly 30,000 people attempting it in 2023, the potential for profit is obvious.
Our interest in Scorpion had begun with a little girl we met in one of the migrant camps near Calais, in northern France.
She had almost died trying to cross the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy.
The dinghy was not seaworthy - it was cheap, bought second-hand in Belgium - and the 19 people on board had no lifejackets.
Who would send people out to sea like this?
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
“...They can charge £6,000 per person for a boat crossing - and with nearly 30,000 people attempting it in 2023...”
£6000 x 30000 = $180 million. All tax free.
Someone can purchase a couple nuclear bombs with that. Just saying.
100% of Chinese illegal immigration into the USA is controlled by criminal gangs.
In China, they even openly advertise their services, like tourist agencies.
You would think people who support this would ask themselves why people are trying to smuggle themselves in the UK when they could have simply settled in France. Or in any country between their homeland and the UK.
Simple fact is, the UK offers more benefits.
You would think people who support this would ask themselves why people are trying to smuggle themselves in the UK when they could have simply settled in France. Or in any country between their homeland and the UK.
Simple fact is, the UK offers more benefits....(or, the smugglers are getting bonus pay to transport illegals this extra distance from a big business entity or country that wants to either profit in some way or wants to bring down the UK.
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