By Peter Allen
Eight people smugglers are starting prison terms in France after boasting on social media about the huge profits they made sending migrants to Britain on lethal small boats.
The six Afghans and two Iraqi Kurds were sentenced to up to eight years each following their trial in Lille.
It focused on a December 2022 disaster in the English Channel when eight people are believed to have lost their lives.
A total of 47, including women and children without lifejackets, were tipped into the freezing water.
Four died, while another four bodies were never found, and are officially classified as 鈥渕issing at sea鈥.
The defendants were on Monday found guilty of 鈥渋nvoluntary manslaughter鈥, 鈥渆ndangering the lives of others鈥, 鈥渇acilitating illegal immigration through an organised gang鈥 and 鈥減articipating in a criminal conspiracy鈥.
All were ultimately incriminated by their mobile phone use, after police in both Britain and France spent months examining telecommunications data.
When one 鈥 an Afghan called Shoaib Shinwari, 22 鈥 realised two migrants had died on another crossing he was involved with, he texted another smuggler, writing: 鈥淵ou have to delete Whatsapp, Tiktok, stories and postings.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I did. I even removed my photo from my profile on Messenger and Facebook.鈥
Shinwari was panicking by this time, after realising that detectives were not only examining their boastful social media posts, but also using their dialled numbers to trace other gang members.
They spoke to each other on the phone constantly, calling migrants 鈥渃hickens鈥, and Channel crossings 鈥済ames鈥.
Payments of between 拢1,200 and 拢3,500 鈥 the price of a single voyage 鈥 were referred to as 鈥淥Ks鈥.
One gang member alone was handling up to 拢750,000 a year in cash from the crossings, the court heard.
The smugglers would often shoot videos and take photos to post on their social media accounts.
Prosecutors in Lille pointed out that the men often tried to delete such evidence, not realising that experts could always find a hidden record.
Geolocation was also used to prove that the defendants were on Loon Plage, the Dunkirk beach where most of the passenger on board the ill-fated December 14, 2022, boat started their journey.
Their inflatable boat was massively overcrowded, and many had 鈥渉eard a bang鈥 when they set off, as part of it exploded and it started to sink, according to prosecutors.
Shinwari, who denied any wrong doing, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
According to investigators, the smugglers earned up to 拢160,000 in cash for this single attempted crossing alone.
Khaled Maiwand, another Afghan aged 26, texted his cousin following the sinking, and complained that he was 鈥渙wed 鈧1,200 (拢1,030)鈥 from one of his 鈥渃lients鈥, but only got 鈧150 (拢129) back鈥.
Despite this, Maiwand wrote that he was 鈥渧ery sad鈥 about the disaster, adding: 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 guilty. I just went with them and helped them. It was the people at the head of the network who I work with that did everything.鈥
Like all of the defendants, Maiwand portrayed himself as a victim, telling the court: 鈥淚 am really upset by what happened. I have no responsibility for it.鈥
He pointed to the fact that Walizai Toryali, a 29-year-old Afghan who was the alleged ringleader of the gang, remains on the run.
Toryali was tried in absentia, and given an eight year sentence, while Maiwand was sentenced to seven years.
Ibrahima Bah, a 16-year-old Senegalese teenager who was piloting the boat, was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison in Britain in March last year.
Bah鈥檚 conviction in Canterbury, Kent, on four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and one of facilitating a breach of immigration law was the first of its kind in the UK.
Back in Lille, Judge Marie Comp猫re handed down the sentences as the cross-Channel small boat trade continued unabated.
On Monday, migrants were filmed posing for selfies using their mobile phones on an overcrowded dinghy as it made a successful journey to Britain.
The UK Home Officer confirmed there were 585 arrivals 鈥 bringing the total this year past the 19,000 figure, and up to 170,200 since the crisis began in 2018.
Judge Comp猫re ordered all of those found guilty in Lille to pay fines of up to 拢100,000, and to leave French territory at the end of their sentences.