25 years in jail for man who helped smuggle more than 3,000 people into Europe

A UK-BASED people smuggler who helped to “ruthlessly and cynically” exploit migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation has been jailed for 25 years.

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Egypt-born Ahmed Ebid, 42, helped to organise the movement of nearly 3,800 migrants including women and children on just seven fishing 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.

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