Asylum seeker ran people-trafficking ring bringing migrants across the Channel while working in chicken shop

Asylum seeker ran people-trafficking ring bringing migrants across the Channel while working in chicken shop

10,000 Channel migrants have crossed illegally to the UK

GB News
Dimitris Kouimtsidis

By Dimitris Kouimtsidis


Published: 26/05/2024

- 12:11

A judge has ordered Sathasivam Sivagankan's extradition to France

An asylum seeker ran a people-trafficking ring bringing migrants across the Channel into the UK from France while working in a chicken shop, a court documents obtained by the Sun have shown.

Sathasivam Sivagankan, 58, had been granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain after fleeing the war in Sri Lanka in 2003 with his wife and sons.


He was working part-time at Morley's chicken shop in Brixton, south London, while receiving universal credits.

But he was also a ringleader in a gang which smuggled Sri Lankans into several European countries over a two-year period, court documents reveal.

Migrants crossing the Channel

Sathasivam Sivagankan was a ringleader in a gang which smuggled Sri Lankans into several European countries

Getty

One Channel crossing was thwarted on June 10, 2021.

The Sri Lankan was arrested in London on March 2022 on behalf of French authorities.

14 other people were also accused of involvement in the complex trafficking enterprise.

A judge originally ordered his extradition to France in November 2022, based on accusations made in the European country.

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A Border force vessel attended the incident\u200b

One Channel crossing was thwarted in June 2021

PA

The 58-year-old fought against the decision by saying his wife needed him as a carer due to her physical and mental conditions that required her to remain housebound.

He was sentenced in absence at a court in Beauvois in northern France, in January 2023.

The High Court discharged the initial extradition warrant in October 2023, but a new one was issued the following month.

And now seven months later, a judge has rejected his claims against extradition and has placed him on a £10,000 bail and a curfew while awaiting extradition to France.

He also has to wear a tag in the meantime.

Court papers said: "He is described as an organiser within a European wide criminal group operating in many countries."

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