Small boats people-smuggler sentenced to 11 years

Hewa Rahimpur, 30, was ringleader of gang thought to have smuggled up to 10,000 people from France to Kent coast

One of the most notorious smugglers of people in small boats across the Channel has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Belgian court after his extradition from the UK.

Prosecutors said Hewa Rahimpur, 30, an Iranian Kurd who was granted leave to remain in the UK in 2020, was the ringleader of a gang that smuggled up to 10,000 people from northern France to the Kent coast.