The shipwreck that claimed the lives of 27 migrants in the Strait of Pas de Calais in November 2021. In this investigation, a key suspect was extradited on Friday from the United Kingdom to France, announced on Monday, the British investigators.
Harem Ahmed Abwbaker, 32, was extradited after his arrest on November 29, 2022 in the United Kingdom, suspected of being a “prominent member” of the criminal group behind this crossing in a small boat, according to the UK Organized Crime Agency (NCA).
“Achieving justice for families”
On the night of November 23 to 24, 2021, 27 migrants aged 7 to 46 – sixteen Kurds from Iraq, one Kurd from Iran, four Afghans, three Ethiopians, one Somali, one Egyptian and one Vietnamese – died in the sinking of their inflatable boat off Calais, while trying to reach England. Only two passengers, an Iraqi Kurd and a Sudanese, had been rescued.
“The NCA is working closely with our French partners to investigate this tragedy,” NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner said in a statement, noting his department’s determination to “achieve justice for the families of those who lost his life”.
Harem Ahmed Abwbaker will have to answer before the French courts for manslaughter, human trafficking and organized crime, writes the NCA in its press release. The French authorities are suspected of having been called for help fifteen times and of not having rescued the migrants on the night of the sinking.
In total, seven soldiers were indicted in Paris for failure to assist a person in danger. Ten alleged smugglers, mostly Afghans, have already been charged in France in connection with this shipwreck. Nearly 46,000 migrants crossed the Channel in 2022, mostly Afghans, Iranians and Albanians. Some 8,000 were rescued in French waters.