Alleged People Trafficker Facing Extradition to France Over 27 Deaths Will Challenge Evidence

Harem Ahmed Abwbaker in handcuffs at a police station in Gloucestershire, England, after his arrest on Nov. 29, 2022. National Crime Agency

LONDON—An alleged people trafficker who was arrested by British police in connection with the deaths of 27 illegal immigrants who died when their small boat sank in the English Channel in November 2021, will face a crucial extradition hearing in August this year.

Harem Ahmed Abwbaker, 32, was arrested in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in November 2022 by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers acting on behalf of French police, who want him to face trial on charges of involuntary homicide and facilitating illegal immigration.

On Tuesday, Abwbaker appeared by videolink from prison at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London for an administrative hearing.

Speaking with the help of a Kurdish interpreter, Abwbaker gave his name and date of birth to District Judge Daniel Sternberg.

Abwbaker’s lawyer explained they would be challenging the admissibility of evidence being produced by the French authorities at a hearing on Aug. 14, but she said their expert was not available on that day.

Expert Witness Unavailable

The court heard a case management hearing was due to take place on June 5 and Abwbaker’s defence team said they would make a request on that date for an extra date to allow their expert to give evidence.

Sternberg agreed to adjourn the case and told Abwbaker he would have to appear in 28 days, on May 30, for another brief hearing but that the substantial hearing would be on June 5.

Shortly after his arrest NCA officers handed Abwbaker over to the Metropolitan Police’s National Extradition Unit, which processes extradition warrants from foreign countries.

On Nov. 24, 2021 a large dinghy sank in the Channel and the bodies of 27 immigrants were recovered from the water or washed up on the French coast.

Two people survived and the bodies of four or five immigrants have not been recovered.

At the time the French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said the survivors—one Somali and one Iraqi—were being treated in hospital for severe hypothermia.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) published an interim report (pdf) in November 2022, which said the vessel was believed to have crossed into British waters before it started sinking.

The MAIB said: “The investigation has established that, during the evening of Nov. 23, 2021, about 34 migrants left a beach near Dunkirk, France on board a small inflatable boat to proceed to the UK. During the passage, the migrants got into difficulties and entered the sea.”

A French fishing vessel raised the alarm in the early hours of Nov. 24, 2021.

Majority of Dead Were Iraqi Kurds

In December 2021 the Paris prosecutor said 16 of those who died were Iraqi Kurds, four were Afghans, and there were also three Ethiopians, a Somalian woman, an Egyptian, and an Iranian.

The ages of the dead ranged from 7 to 45 and included seven women.

Amanullah Omakhil, 18, told AFP at the time one of the dead had been his cousin Hussein, 24, who had travelled overland from Afghanistan.

Abwbaker, who is believed to be an Iraqi Kurd, was identified by the Paris prosecutor as the people smuggler behind the boat and he was tracked down by the NCA.

In its interim report the MAIB said it was initially believed the dinghy had sunk in French waters because that was where the bodies and the survivors were located.

But it said that in January 2022 the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, Andrew Moll, started an investigation “when it became evident that some of the events relating to this loss of life had occurred inside UK waters.”

The MAIB said the scope of its investigation “has focused on the UK search and rescue response at the time; the MAIB is not investigating the reasons why the voyage was being attempted nor the conduct of the voyage itself.”

The MAIB said the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Dover received a number of phone calls from illegal immigrants as the boat started sinking.

MRCC staff “dispatched UK surface and air assets to search the area where the distressed migrants were assessed to be. However, nothing was found until the report from the French fishing vessel later on Nov. 24, 2021.”

The number of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel in small boats has risen sharply in recent years, from 1,843 in 2019 to 8,466 in 2020 and then it jumped again to 28,526 in 2021 and 45,755 last year.

During 2022 a total of 45,755 illegal immigrants crossed the Channel on small boats, and between January and November 2022 the Royal Navy and the UK Border Force’s Operation Isotrope intercepted small boats in the Channel and escorted illegal immigrants safely to shore.

There were no immigrant deaths at sea between January 2022, when the operation began, and Dec. 14, 2022 when another boat sank mid-channel and four out of the 39 people on board drowned.

Last month Ibrahima Bah, 19, was charged with manslaughter and facilitating attempted illegal entry into the UK in relation to the December 2022 incident and he is due to face trial at Canterbury Crown Court in November.