Two men aged 25 and 22 of Pakistani nationality were sentenced Thursday to three and two years of imprisonment for illegally bringing thirteen migrants discovered into the country in a truck in Grigny (Essonne) in mid-December 2023.
In this medium-sized town in Essonne, among the poorest in France, the two men were spotted by a police patrol on December 13 busying themselves in the back of a Renault Master truck registered in Italy.
When the police opened the doors of the van, they discovered thirteen men
“huddled together”
, all of Indian or Pakistani nationality, relates the president.
Their phones are stored in bags, all turned off and set to airplane mode.
None of these migrants - including a minor boy - were present at the hearing.
They are in fact placed in an administrative detention center, but some were interviewed during the investigation.
All in an irregular situation, they describe alarming migration conditions.
“I never had water, we were starting to run out of oxygen in the truck
,” one of them told investigators.
10,000 euros each for transport
According to the investigation, each migrant had to pay around 10,000 euros to ensure transport from India or Pakistan to Europe.
Up to 40 people were reportedly transported in this van over several trips, bringing the potential profit for smugglers to 400,000 euros.
Assisted by an interpreter, the two young men denied the facts during the hearing, despite several telephone elements revealing return trips between the Paris region and Italy and messages from Internet users on Facebook asking if they could
“ crossing borders illegally
.
Being undocumented themselves, they have repeatedly claimed to have requested asylum in France.
“Poor”
, they explained
“working for their
elderly or sick parents” who remained in Pakistan.
The oldest of them, who received the heaviest sentence and was permanently banned from staying in France, had previously been convicted by the Grenoble Court of Appeal for similar acts.
“We may be sure of the exploitation of human misery, but these two are also human misery
,” argued the defense lawyer.
When the decision was announced, the youngest defendant, looking stunned and desperate, with his arms hanging, began to exclaim in his native language, before being taken away by force by the police.
Both men were immediately taken into custody.