Ruthless people-smugglers risking the lives of migrants in the English Channel are controlled by British-based 'mafia bosses', yet UK authorities 'lack the political will to tackle them', a French mayor claimed yesterday. Franck Dhersin, mayor of Teteghem, a village near Dunkirk, said traffickers cramming boats with migrants are mostly Iraqi Kurdish gangs investing their profits in the UK. He said French coastguard services are receiving almost nightly calls to rescue migrants from inadequate, overcrowded boats. 'These gangs are mostly Iraqi Kurdish but the leaders of these gangs are based in the UK. In February, Britain's National Crime Agency arrested 21 people nationwide in a series of raids targeting a Iraqi Kurdish smuggling ring.

Source: Daily Mail December 01, 2018 23:43 UTC