A UK-based people smuggler has been jailed for 25 years for being part of a £12million illegal boat crossing operation.
Egyptian-born, Ahmed Ebid, 42, helped "ruthlessly and cynically" organise the movement of nearly 3,800 migrants, including women and children, with some of them making their way to Britain, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Ebid even told an associate to kill and throw any migrants into the sea if they were caught with phones.
The 42-year-old did all of this while living in his home in Isleworth, southwest London. He was detained in the town in June 2023.
Ahmed Ebid has been jailed for 25 yearsNCAEbid helped at least seven separate crossing operations, which carried around 3,781 people into Italian waters.
The defendant is believed to be the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK.
He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for 25 years, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Judge Adam Hiddlestone said: "[Ebid had a] significant managerial role within an organised crime group."
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The people smugglers' "primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking," Hiddlestone added.
The judge told Ebid that he must have been a "beneficiary" of "a significant amount" from "the conspiracy that you were a part of [which] generated millions of pounds".
Hiddlestone added that the amount of money was "truly staggering", and it came from "hard-earned savings of desperate individuals" who Ebid and his group "ruthlessly and cynically exploited".
On a phone seized from the people smuggler, investigators discovered images of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels and videos of migrants from the journey.
One of the boats used by Ebid to conduct illegal crossings
PA
Tim Burton, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, stated: "Ahmed Ebid played a leading role in a sophisticated operation, which breached immigration laws and endangered lives, for his own and others' financial gain.
"Vulnerable people were transported on long sea journeys in ill-equipped fishing vessels, completely unsuitable for carrying the large number of passengers who were on board.
"His repeated involvement in helping to facilitate these dangerous crossings showed a complete disregard for the safety of thousands of people, whose lives were put at serious risk."
Jacque Beer of the NCA said: "Ebid was part of a crime network that preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death trap boats.
"The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn't follow his rules.
"To him, they were just a source of profit. He was based in the UK but was organising crossings from North Africa.
"A proportion of those he moved to Italy would also have ended up in northern Europe, attempting to cross the Channel to the UK."
