Confession of the most wanted migrant trafficker in Europe: I have transported over 10 thousand people

2024-05-10 10:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Confession of the most wanted migrant trafficker in Europe: I have transported

Barzan Majeed

"BBC" has recently published an article dedicated to the most wanted migrant trafficker in Europe. It is about the smuggler Barzan Majeed, who is wanted by police forces in several countries, including Great Britain.

"I'm sitting in a shopping center in Iraq, face to face with one of the most notorious people smugglers in Europe," reports Ben Milne for "BBC News".

Asked by Milne, he says he does not remember how many migrants he has transported across the English Channel.

“Maybe a thousand, maybe 10,000. I don't know, I haven't calculated," he says.

More than 70 migrants have died crossing by boat since 2018 - last month, five people were killed off the French coast, including a seven-year-old girl.

The BBC reports that this dangerous journey is quite lucrative for smugglers, who can earn up to £6,000 per person from just one boat crossing - and with almost 30,000 people attempting it in 2023, the profit potential is high.

The investigation into Barzan Majeed, otherwise known as "The Scorpion", was started by a little girl in the migrant camps near Calais, in northern France.

At the age of 20, Majeed entered England illegally, hiding in a truck. Despite being refused permission to stay, a year later he spent several years in the UK, some of which he spent in prison for weapons and drug offences.

He was finally deported to Iraq in 2015. Soon after, Majeed is believed to have "inherited" a people-smuggling business from his older brother, who was serving a prison sentence in Belgium.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Scorpion gang is believed to have controlled most of the people-smuggling trade between Europe and the UK.

Ben Milne reports that during the meeting with Majeed he denied being a smuggler. I'm just a "money man" - he said.

He also talked about how he got into the business in 2016, when thousands of people were going to Europe.

"No one forced them. They wanted. They were begging the smugglers," he said./ CNA