More than a dozen boats and 700 life jackets were confiscated by French police in a raid, according to French officials, which broke up a significant people-smuggling network that had been transporting migrants to Britain in dinghies.
The logistical centre for the ring, which was controlled by immigrants from Iraqi Kurdistan, was located in Lille, a city in northern France, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the beaches along the northern Channel utilised for crossings.
Following their arrest on Monday, three French suspects and three Iraqi individuals have both been charged.
According to AFP, Xavier Delrieu, the head of the French anti-migration organisation Ocriest, police in Lille found “a true factory producing maritime equipment.”
They recovered 13 inflatable boats, 14 outboard engines, 700 life jackets, 100 pumps, and 700 litres (185 gallons) of fuel in what Delrieu called their largest equipment seizure ever.
