An English Channel human trafficking ringleader, dubbed a ‘super smuggler,’ allegedly orchestrated small boat crossings valued at £50 million annually, even while incarcerated, according to investigators. Known for his violent threats against competitors, he reportedly vowed to “put a bullet in the head” of his rivals.
Last week, French courts sentenced Idriss Ghazi Kareem, a 45-year-old Iraqi Kurd, to 15 years in prison for his role in the tragic deaths of seven Afghans who drowned en route to the UK. Each victim had paid up to £1,200 for a perilous journey in an overcrowded dinghy, organized by what investigators describe as Ghazi Kareem’s ‘family business.’
Authorities suspect that the Ghazi Kareem family continues to control key smuggling routes from beaches near Calais and Dunkirk, with an increasing reliance on firearms to maintain their operations.
The extent of Ghazi Kareem’s criminal enterprise was unveiled during a two-week trial at the Paris Correctional Court, concluding last Tuesday. He was among eight smugglers convicted on various charges related to the fatal small boat disaster in August 2023.
Details of Ghazi Kareem’s career as a crime lord emerged during his two-week trial at the Paris Correctional Court, which ended on Tuesday.
He was one of eight smugglers found guilty and sentenced on a variety of charges connected to the deadly small boats disaster in August 2023.
Evidence pointed to Ghazi Kareem becoming a ‘multi-millionaire’ after running around 500 boats a year, each worth £100,000 in cash payments, the court heard.
Prosecutor Florian Pappo said: ‘Drug trafficking doesn’t compare to a successful night out for migrant smugglers.’
Idriss Ghazi Kareem, a 45-year-old Iraqi Kurd, was last week sentenced to 15 years by French judges for the manslaughter of seven Afghans
Britain has been struggling to tackle a migration crisis, which has seen hundreds of people attempting to cross the English Channel in overloaded boats run by smugglers
Ghazi Kareem was recorded boasting to relatives about his profits on a bugged telephone line in his cell, before investigators said he should be moved to a jail near Lille that is regarded as the most secure in France.
Xavier Delrieu, head of France’s Office for Combating Illegal Migrant Trafficking, said: ‘We recommended transferring him to Vendin-le-Vieil because he was still running his business behind bars.’
The Mail can also reveal that Ghazi Kareem is the oldest of three brothers, all of whom helped build up their £50million-a-year trafficking syndicate.
One – Karzan Ghazi Kareem – was blasted to death at the age of 39 during a shoot-out with special forces police near Dijon, France, in February, while driving a BMW 5 Series hatchback full of UK-bound migrants.
A third brother, Goran Ghazi Kareem, 36, is still at large, and thought to be taking orders from his incarcerated brother as he continues to run the family business.
Mr Delrieu said: ‘We have three brothers immersed in the world of crime. One is in prison, one has been killed, and the third, who is overseas, must still be operating.
‘We are talking about major traffickers – the organisers who control the whole market.’
Before being arrested in 2023 over the fatal small boat sinking, police recorded Idriss Ghazi Kareem warning: ‘If I have to kill someone, I will.’
And he told another smuggler on a bugged line: ‘You’re playing games. Yesterday you sent a small boat from [my beach]. If your boat skippers come back, I’ll put a bullet in their heads.’
In a message exchange with Tariq Hassan, a 42-year-old Iraqi Kurd who was sentenced to 12 years during the latest trial, Ghazi Kareem outlined how he had punished a rival.
Pictured: Migrants wade into the sea to try to board smugglers’ boats in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France
He wrote: ‘I grabbed an Iranian, I beat him up. I completely undressed the boy, I did terrible things to him.’
Ghazi Kareem’s ‘three-step plan’ for controlling the France-England small boats routes involved sabotaging rival boats, beating up skippers, and shooting other smugglers, the court heard.
Between May and August 2023, he travelled to the Calais area at least five times, and boasted about ‘severely disfiguring’ a rival, according to another recorded conversation.
None of the Afghans who died in August 2023 could swim, and – despite the high fees paid to the Ghazi Kareem clan – they had not been given life jackets.
They were part of a group of 68 crowded into the small boat which fell apart in the water.
The court heard one survivor describe how the smugglers ‘hit us and threatened to kill anyone who didn’t want to get on board.’
Ghazi Kareem was cited as the leader of the smuggling gang, and was imprisoned for manslaughter and ‘aiding and abetting illegal immigration as part of an organised gang.’
Claiming to be a former policeman who fled Kirkuk, Iraq, with his family to claim asylum, he appeared in a high security dock in handcuffs and under armed guard.
The repeat offender had already spent 11 years in prison for smuggling, and had been banned from France following release in 2020.
But he was left to carry on with his crimes, as European police forces set up a surveillance operation, initially bugging his £80,000 Audi Q7 car.
Before his last arrest, Ghazi Kareem was living in Kiel, on Germany’s northern Baltic coast, with his wife and two children, and claiming to be a successful construction company boss.
Raids around Europe uncovered homes, more luxury cars, bars, and shell companies linked to all the brothers, and other family members.
Like the other defendants, he denied having any link to the 2023 drownings.
More than 32,000 people have crossed the English Channel on smuggler-organised small boats so far this year.
