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.
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.
Details of the case emerged during a rare Newton hearing – a trial within a trial that takes place when the prosecution and defence disagree about facts of a case.
Ebid was living in Isleworth, west London, at the time of his arrest in June 2023.
He later admitted to being involved in enabling seven fishing boats to make the dangerous crossing to Europe, with a total of 3,781 migrants on board. He said he only played a minor role in the operation but a judge rejected this claim in March.
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Ebid, who had worked as a fisherman in the Mediterranean, helped two boats carrying hundreds of migrants cross the sea in a convoy just three weeks after he arrived in the UK.
Once the boats were in Italian waters, a satellite phone on board one vessel was used to call the Italian coastguard, who rescued everyone and brought them ashore.
Ebid’s mobile phone had been in contact with the satellite phone 34 times over two days, the prosecution told the Newton hearing.
He used the same method to help five more boats make the crossing in the next six months, it added.
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Each migrant was charged an average of around £3,200, bringing the criminals involved more than £12m, the NCA said.
Investigators found pictures of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels, videos of migrants making the journey and screenshots of money transfers on a phone seized from him.
In a conversation with an associate which was recorded via a listening device planted by NCA officers, Ebid said migrants were not to carry phones with them on boats, adding: “Tell them guys anyone caught with a phone will be killed, threw in the sea.”
Ebid was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
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Tim Burton, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Ebid “played a leading role” in an operation “which breached immigration laws and endangered lives, for his own and others’ financial gain”.
Jacque Beer, of the NCA, said: “Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death trap boats.
“The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn’t follow his rules.”
