Police arrest 39 in crackdown on migrant smuggling gang

THE HAGUE – Police in five European countries have arrested 39 people in a major cross-border operation targeting an Iraqi-kurdish gang which smuggled migrants across the Channel to Britain, the EU’S law enforcement agency Europol said on Wednesday.

Europol said the network could have smuggled as many as 10,000 illegal migrants to Britain over the past year and a half and netted as much as 15 million euros from their criminal activity.

“This is the most significant operation ever mounted against smuggling operations across the English Channel, especially with this phenomenon of small boats,” Europol deputy executive director Jean-philippe Lecouffe told a news conference.

Police officials said the gang was one of the most active criminal networks smuggling people from France to Britain in small boats.

Police forces in Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands were involved in the operation.