Three members of a gang that smuggled children across the Channel before they were raped and blackmailed have been arrested in Britain.
The Afghan fugitives, responsible for illegally moving thousands of migrants across Europe, were detained in police raids after being convicted in their absence by a Belgian court.
The gang inflicted ‘extreme cruelty’ on the children and adults they smuggled, the Home Secretary said tonight
The criminal network moved migrants from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkey and the Balkans into western Europe, with many then crammed on to small boats heading for the UK.
Young boys making the journey were seriously sexually abused, with gang members filming the attacks and using the footage to blackmail their victims into criminality and further sexual acts.
Extraordinary footage shows Zeeshan Banghis, 20, and Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai, 23, being roused from their sleep by officers before they were arrested and marched into custody.
Ahmedzai was detained in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, yesterday while National Crime Agency (NCA) officers picked up Banghis in south-east London on December 18. Their accomplice, Ziarmal Khan, 24, was arrested on December 6 at Stansted on suspicion of domestic violence, and then over his conviction in Belgium.
Extradition proceedings are now under way to return them to Belgium to serve the sentences. So far 23 members of the gang have been convicted and sentenced by a court in Antwerp, of whom 11 were prosecuted in their absence.
Zeeshan Banghis (pictured) has been jailed for ten years. He was detained in police raids after being convicted in their absence by a Belgian court
Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai (pictured) has been jailed for his role in a criminal network which moved migrants from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkey and the Balkans into western Europe, with many then crammed on to small boats heading for the UK
The NCA spent two years working alongside Belgian police to build evidence on the network of people smugglers which Zeeshan Banghis was part of
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured) said: ‘This case is nothing short of sickening. These men ran extensive illegal smuggling operations and inflicted extreme cruelty on the migrants they smuggled – some of them children – when they were at their most vulnerable’
Ahmedzai had been jailed for ten years, while Khan and Banghis were each sentenced to three.
The NCA spent two years working alongside Belgian police to build evidence on the network of people smugglers. NCA deputy director Craig Turner said: ‘These men were part of a network involved in illegally moving migrants across the globe… profiting from the dangerous situations they put vulnerable people into as they were transported, and committing the most heinous sexual offences against them.’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘This case is nothing short of sickening.
‘These men ran extensive illegal smuggling operations and inflicted extreme cruelty on the migrants they smuggled – some of them children – when they were at their most vulnerable.’
In the year to September 2024, almost 5,000 Afghans crossed the Channel into Britain in small boats. Iranians were the second largest group, followed by Syrians, Vietnamese and Eritreans.
Roughly 80 per cent of those who made the crossings were male, with about 40 per cent aged between 25 and 39.