Illegal immigration kingpin jailed for Mediterranean crossing scheme in UK first

A man has been jailed for conspiring to assist unlawful immigration in what is believed to be the first conviction for organising crossings of the Mediterranean Sea from the UK.

People smuggler Ahmed Ebid was today sentenced to 25 years at Southwark Crown Court for conspiring to assist unlawful immigration. The court heard he helped “ruthlessly and cynically” exploit migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation.

Egyptian-born Ebid, 42, helped organise the movement of nearly 3,800 migrants – including women and children – on just seven boat crossings from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023 and some of them made their way to Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

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Ebid even told an associate to kill and throw into the sea any migrants caught with phones, in a bid to avoid law enforcement, all while he was living in Isleworth, south-west London.

The defendant, who is believed to be the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Judge Adam Hiddleston said that Ebid had a “significant managerial role within an organised crime group” and that his “primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking”.

The judge told Ebid the “conspiracy that you were a part of generated millions of pounds” and that he must have been a “beneficiary” of “a significant amount”.

He added that the “truly staggering” amount of money came from the “hard-earned savings of desperate individuals”, who were “ruthlessly and cynically exploited” by Ebid and the crime group.¢¢