An alleged “kingpin” of an Iranian gang that is thought to have transported up to 10,000 migrants to the UK has indicated that he would consent to being extradited to Belgium to stand prosecution there.
A 29-year-old woman named Hewa Rahimpur is charged with purchasing small boats from Turkey, arranging for their storage in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and then using them to ferry people across the English Channel.
He was detained in May at the beginning of a police investigation spanning all of Europe that resulted in 40 arrests, the seizure of 135 boats, 1,200 life jackets, and thousands of euros in cash.
Rahimpur has been named as the individual who bought boats and coordinated their transit to the French shore by two guys who were detained in Belgium.
He is wanted by Belgian officials who believe him of being a key player in a network that prosecutors claim is utilizing tiny boats to commit crimes involving “systematic people smuggling.”
Rahimputer ‘stands accused of being a major player in what we would say is one of the most significant criminal networks involved in supplying boats to people smugglers’, Jacque Beer, National Crime Agency (NCA) Deputy Director of Investigations said upon his arrest in May this year.
Rahimpur, currently living in Ilford, east London, was detained in a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation at around 1pm on May 4.
The suspected people smuggler appeared today via video connection at Westminster Magistrates’ Court because Belgian authorities want to extradite him.
“I believe that Mr. Rahimpur is considering agreeing to his extradition,” defense attorney Benjamin Seifert said. I would therefore request that he be brought before the court next week.
Rahimpur must appear in person at a second hearing, which District Judge Daniel Sternberg scheduled for July 15, in order to sign paperwork indicating his assent to extradition.
If Mr. Rahimpur is considering agreeing to the extradition, he should be presented the following Friday so that the judge may witness that.
Rahimpur, who is presently detained at HMP Wandsworth, attended the hearing with the aid of an interpreter who spoke Iranian Kurdish.
The largest-ever operation of its type was coordinated by EU law enforcement organizations Europol and Eurojust against the people-smuggling ring.
According to the National Crime Agency, this week saw the arrests of six additional suspects, and intelligence shared with allies in Europe resulted in arrests there.
According to Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Deputy Director of Europol, the cost for migrants to cross the border ranges from £2,000 to £9,000, and the criminal organization’s activities brought in up to £51.4 million in 2021 alone.
Following Rahimpur’s arrest in May, Frank Demeester of the West Flanders prosecutor’s office in Belgium declared: “Smuggling of small boats is higher on our priority list together with smuggling of human people via refrigerated transport.”
According to Andrea Wilson, NCA Deputy Director of Organized Immigration Crime, “targeting the supply of boats used by these people smuggling networks is one of the ways we are trying to undermine these networks.”
Some of the boats we’ve seen trying to cross the English Channel have been little more than death traps, held together by gaffer tape and slabs of wood.
‘Sadly, we have also seen how these crossings have resulted in fatalities, which is why tackling this criminality is a priority for the NCA and our law enforcement partners both in the UK and overseas.’