Twenty-four people of Iraqi nationality appear Thursday, March 10 before the Criminal Court of Rennes for smuggling migrants to Great Britain, sometimes transported in refrigerated trucks from motorway areas in central France.
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The facts judged occurred between 2018 and 2020. On the first day of the trial, the president of the court assessed the amount collected by the network at around 70 million euros, and at around 10,000 the number of migrants taken care of, including children, at a rate of up to 500 per month.
The smugglers, Kurds from Iraq, first brought the illegal immigrants, mainly compatriots, to the Dunkirk region.
The latter were then driven by car, or took the train alone to go to Sarthe, Indre-et-Loire or Vienne.
Two formulas
They were then housed in “waiting areas”, squatted apartments in Châtellerault or Le Mans, in an abandoned sawmill or in the woods, in particularly precarious conditions according to images shown to the hearing.
On the day of their visit, hooded men called them to put them on board lorries that were parked at motorway service areas at night.
Illegals had the choice between two "formulas", normal or "VIP".
They could get into the trucks without the knowledge of the drivers for 5,000 pounds (about 6,000 euros).
The second “formula” consisted of getting them on board with the complicity of the drivers, most of them from Eastern European countries, for 8,000 to 11,000 euros.
The latter could then arrange caches for them in their vehicles.
“The very lucrative nature of this activity has given rise to turf wars, the motorway areas having become the stakes of wars between smugglers”, going as far as murder, underlined the president of the court.
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Judicial information was opened in December 2018 after referral to the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Rennes (Jirs), in particular for "trafficking in human beings" and "aid to the irregular entry, movement or stay of a foreigner on the territory".
The defendants are between 22 and 53 years old.
Twenty-three appear detained, another is under judicial control, while six people are the subject of arrest warrants.
They face a 10-year prison sentence, doubled in case of recidivism.
The trial is to be held until March 25.
