PARIS: French police said on Monday they had arrested seven members of a people smuggling ring which helped migrants enter Britain illegally from France.
The gang picked up migrants in Paris, took them to motorway service stations where they were hidden in trucks bound for the UK without the knowledge of the drivers.
The people smugglers charged each migrant 3,000 euros ($3,566) for the passage, giving their network total revenues over the past year of 1.5 to 3.0 million euros, said Jean Arvieu, deputy chief of the police’s central office against illegal immigration.
The ring was run by Iraqi-Kurdish organizers who took over the network after gangland wars with rival groups, he told AFP.
Police, which investigated the ring for a year before the arrests, found that at the height of the business there were daily runs between Paris and Britain.
There was no evidence of any collusion between truck drivers and people smugglers, Arvieu said.
Most people smuggled on the route were either Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan, Syrian or Pakistani, nationalities that often target Britain as their final destination.
Young men between 20 and 35 and families made up the biggest contingent, he said.
France breaks up people smuggling ring to UK
https://arab.news/g6vnw
France breaks up people smuggling ring to UK
- The gang was conducting daily runs between Paris and the UK before it was shut down by police
- Most of those smuggled were either Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan, Syrian or Pakistani,
Bangladesh’s Yunus announces resignation, end of interim govt
- Yunus handed over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its leader Tarique Rahman
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus stepped down on Monday in a farewell broadcast to the nation before handing over to an elected government.
“Today, the interim government is stepping down,” the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
“But let the practice of democracy, freedom of speech, and fundamental rights that has begun not be halted.”
Yunus returned from self-imposed exile in August 2024, days after the iron-fisted government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising and she fled by helicopter to India.
“That was the day of great liberation,” he said. “What a day of joy it was! Bangladeshis across the world shed tears of happiness. The youth of our country freed it from the grip of a demon.”
He has led Bangladesh as its “chief adviser” since, and now hands over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its leader Tarique Rahman on a “landslide victory” in elections last week.
“The people, voters, political parties, and stakeholder institutions linked to the election have set a commendable example,” Yunus said.
“This election has set a benchmark for future elections.”
Rahman, 60, chief of the BNP and scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, will lead the South Asian nation of 170 million.
‘Rebuilt institutions’
Bangladeshi voters endorsed sweeping democratic reforms in a national referendum, a key pillar of Yunus’s post-uprising transition agenda, on the same day as the elections.
The lengthy document, known as the “July Charter” after the month when the uprising that toppled Hasina began, proposes term limits for prime ministers, the creation of an upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence.
“We did not start from zero — we started from a deficit,” he said.
“Sweeping away the ruins, we rebuilt institutions and set the course for reforms.”
The referendum noted that approval would make the charter “binding on the parties that win” the election, obliging them to endorse it.
However, several parties raised questions before the vote, and the reforms will still require ratification by the new parliament.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, according to the Election Commission.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman conceded on Saturday, saying his party would “serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition.”
Newly elected lawmakers are expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, after which Tarique Rahman is set to become Bangladesh’s next prime minister.
Police records show that political clashes during the campaign period killed five people and injured more than 600.
However, despite weeks of turbulence ahead of the polls, voting day passed without major unrest and the country has responded to the results with relative calm.
