People-smuggling kingpin gets nine years in jail over migrant crossing that ... trends now
A people smuggling kingpin has been jailed over the deaths of seven migrants in the Channel, including a toddler whose body washed up on beach in Norway.
Rauf Perot Rahimifar and three others were convicted of trafficking and manslaughter over the deadly trip from Dunkirk towards England which ended in tragedy when the tiny boat laden with up to 25 migrants capsized.
An entire family was killed, with Rasoul Iran-Nejad and his wife Shiva, both 35, drowning alongside their children Anita, nine, Armin, six, and Artin, 15 months.
Two other migrants also died with the rest, including three children, rescued.
Rauf Perot Rahimifar (pictured) was convicted of trafficking and manslaughter over the deadly trip
Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35 (left), Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35 (second from left), Anita, nine (centre), and Armin, six (right) all drowned
Artin’s body was not found until months after the October 2020 disaster on a beach in Norway, 600 miles away.
On Friday, the gang’s alleged ringleader Rahimifar, 38, who has a 2021 conviction for voyeurism in Denmark, was found guilty of arranging the fatal trip in Dunkirk’s criminal court.
He had smiled regularly throughout his questioning and claimed to be innocent but was jailed for nine years and fined £60,000.
‘Drowned trying to save his children
Accomplices Mostafa Kakelahi, 42, and Hoshiar Khezri, got seven and five years respectively plus fines
