People smuggler jailed.

The crime would be unprofitable if we introduced adequate legal forms of entry as we did for Ukrainians.

sundowngirl

If he was waiting for a decision, why was he in tax payer accommodation and on benefits within 2 weeks of illegally arriving on our shores and was able to run his £2million people smuggling business from there. We have our own people sleeping on the streets, it's a disgrace
Apparently we no longer fingerprint these arrivals and if we did it would have been easy to find out that he had been imprisoned in Italy for drug smuggling.
The rest of the world is laughing at us.

We stopped fingerprinting arrivals under the last government in 2023 to cut down on processing bureaucracy. This did indeed make ID and tracing harder, seems pretty key to me. I can't imagine why they stopped it, unless at the time the assumption was "we'll just send them all to Rwanda".

Rwanda was eventually scrapped - after many other issues because our own Supreme Court judged Rwanda not to be a safe country in November 15th 2023. Remember it was a plan to send all migrants there to be processed there.

"The UK Supreme Court ruled the government's policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful in November 2023.

The court found that there were substantial grounds for believing asylum seekers removed to Rwanda would face a real risk of ill-treatment, specifically refoulement (being returned) to their country of origin.

This decision was based on concerns about the deficiencies in Rwanda's asylum system and the potential for those with well-founded fears of persecution to be returned to their home countries"

Grantanow

The problem is he will be replaced by another criminal organiser given the profits to be made. It's a wack a mole problem. We need to render the crime unprofitable.

We need a deterrent! This government has not idea, they will never smash the gangs, as you say there will always be others ready to take their place.
Why scrap Rwanda without anything to take its place. We know that just the idea of Rwanda made some have second thoughts about making the journey across the channel. They were waiting for Labour to win the election knowing full well their passage will be that much easier.

The problem is he will be replaced by another criminal organiser given the profits to be made. It's a wack a mole problem. We need to render the crime unprofitable.

If he was waiting for a decision, why was he in tax payer accommodation and on benefits within 2 weeks of illegally arriving on our shores and was able to run his £2million people smuggling business from there. We have our own people sleeping on the streets, it's a disgrace
Apparently we no longer fingerprint these arrivals and if we did it would have been easy to find out that he had been imprisoned in Italy for drug smuggling.
The rest of the world is laughing at us.

Waiting for a decision? Why?

Surely with his drug smuggling record, he should have been sent back, pronto.

And he was in ‘home office accommodation’. Forked out for by we taxpayers.

And the powers that be wonder why there is so much ill feeling about immigration, asylum….legal or otherwise.

What a mess it all is. No one seems able to get a grip on any of it.

Sadgrandma

I don’t understand why he was allowed to stay if his asylum application had been rejected. Why wasn’t he deported immediately especially given his criminal record. Am I missing something?

If you read above (*Abracadabra*'s post) it sounds like he was waiting for a decision.

Perhaps they are victims of this horrible man too?

Maybe because he would come straight back in disguise ? Just a thought. Why are his wife and sons still there? Another thought.

I don’t understand why he was allowed to stay if his asylum application had been rejected. Why wasn’t he deported immediately especially given his criminal record. Am I missing something?

I wish they had thrown away the key. Those type of people are evil, feeding on people's desperation and not bothering whether they put those people's lives in danger just so they canmake money. I hope they manage to catch more of them.

We really, really need to get to grips with this

From the BBC:

He (Ebid) arrived in the UK on a small boat in 2022 after spending five years in jail in Italy for attempted drug smuggling. He applied for asylum in the UK but never received a decision.

That meant he had been in legal limbo, neither facing removal nor being granted permission to stay. His sentence means he will almost certainly be deported once it has been served.

Ebid, whose wife and sons are in the UK, had been living in Home Office-funded accommodation in south-west London at the time of his arrest.

Excellent news.

It is a start and hopefully many more will follow!

Spot on GG13.

He is an Egyptian who was instrumental in smuggling people across the Mediterranean for many years, caught by mobile phone records.

Hopefully they can use the same modus operandi to catch the criminals putting lives at risk in small boats crossing the channel.