Migrant jailed after helping smuggle more than 3,000 others into Europe |Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid, who had worked as a fisherman in the Mediterranean, started helping boats make the perilous journey from Libya to Italy just three weeks after he arrived in the UK.
An illegal immigrant who was involved in smuggling more than 3,000 others into Europe has been sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Egyptian national Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid, who arrived in the UK in a small boat in October 2022, worked with people smuggling networks in North Africa to bring hundreds of migrants at a time from Libya to Italy.The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes the 42-year-old’s case is the first time someone has been convicted for organising migrant crossings of the Mediterranean from the UK.
NCA
Ebid had a “significant managerial role within an organised crime group” and his “primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking”, Judge Adam Hiddleston said.
He told Ebid the “conspiracy that you were a part of generated millions of pounds” and he must have been a “beneficiary” of “a significant amount”.
He said the “truly staggering” amount of money came from the “hard-earned savings of desperate individuals”, who were “ruthlessly and cynically exploited” by Ebid and the crime group.
