A Turkish national has been jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of supplying thousands of small boats and engines used by people smugglers to transport asylum seekers across the English Channel.
Adem Savas was also fined €400,000 (£346,000).
The 45-year-old was arrested after arriving at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam in November 2024 and stood trial in Bruges, Belgium, for alleged involvement in people smuggling operations.
Lifejackets in the back of a van and a small boat engine. Pics: NCA
He was accused of supplying engines and boats to people smugglers, shipping the boats from Turkey and storing them in Germany until they were transported to northern France.
Savas was initially identified by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) after an investigation into Kurdish crime boss Hewa Rahimpur.
Rahimpur headed a major Europe-wide smuggling ring thought to be behind the movement of more than 10,000 migrants in small boat crossings to the UK. He was arrested in 2022 near Ilford in east London and extradited to Belgium, where he was jailed for 11 years in October 2023, a sentence later increased to 13 years on appeal.
Analysis of phones and devices seized during his arrest revealed Savas was his key supplier of boats and engines, and investigators believe he supplied equipment used in half of all Channel crossings in 2023.
The NCA said Savas was the main importer of cheap outboard engines sourced from China, the type most frequently used by people smuggling gangs in the Channel.
The agency said Savas was thought to have supplied equipment used in thousands of small boat crossings to the UK between 2019 and 2024. Charging around £4,000 on average for packages of boats and engines, he is thought to have made millions.
Criminals shared Sky News report on fatal Channel crossing
A screenshot of a Sky News report Rahimpur sent to Savas. Pic: NCA
Rahimpur also sent pictures of a white boat to Savas. Pic: NCA
After 27 migrants died when their boat sank in the Channel in November 2021, Rahimpur sent Savas images of a white rubber boat and a screenshot of a Sky News article showing how an identical boat had been used in the fatal crossing.
Equipment supplied by Savas ‘likely involved in numerous fatal events’
NCA director general of operations Rob Jones said: “Adem Savas was without doubt the most significant supplier of boats and engines to people smuggling gangs involved in organising deadly crossings in the Channel, the head of a criminal network stretching across Europe to the beaches of northern France and across into the UK.
“He pretended to run a legitimate maritime supply company, but in reality he knew exactly how the equipment he provided would be used. He also knew exactly how unsuitable it was for long sea crossings.
“Boats and engines supplied by Savas were likely involved in numerous fatal events in the Channel – he made money from each of those.”
Three other defendants were sentenced to 12 and 13 years in prison in absentia, and their arrest has been ordered. They were fined €600,000 (£520,000). Savas also had $100,000 (£74,000) in assets seized.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
