Investigators identified Eglantin Doksani, 24, as an associate of Iranian Hewa Rahimpur, one of the leaders of a gang involved in moving around 10,000 people to the UK, the National Crime Agency said.
In Whatsapp conversations found on Rahimpur’s phone, the pair discussed money with Doksani saying “next time bro I’m gonna bring better all together for 10 people 30K £”.
The sentencing comes as new Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind small boats crossings, with a beefed-up border force and closer cooperation with European partners.
Former Conservative premier Rishi Sunak had also vowed to “stop the boats” but was voted out of office on July 4 with the number of migrants arriving on England’s southern coast still rising.
National Crime Agency branch commander Mark Howes said Doksani acted as a broker for people who wanted to come to the UK illegally, “having direct contact with people smugglers operating small boats on the French and Belgian coast”.
“We will never know for sure how many people he was involved in moving, but it is likely to have been hundreds,” he said.
“He and his criminal associates stood to profit from this arrangement, and didn’t care that they were risking the lives of those they were transporting,” he added.
Some 20 people have lost their lives this year trying to cross over to Britain from France on often overloaded boats, according to authorities.
Rahimpur was arrested in east London in 2022 and extradited to Belgium. He was jailed for 11 years last October.
When Doksani was arrested, also in 2022, at a property in east London, a bag was seen to be thrown from a window.
It was later found to contain cocaine. Electronic scales and cutting agents were also recovered from the scene.
He was charged with facilitating illegal immigration, fraud, money laundering and drug supply offences. He later pleaded guilty to seven offences.
He was jailed for nine years and nine months by a judge at St Albans Crown Court north of London.
A total of 12,313 people have made the Channel crossing so far this year, according to UK Home Office provisional figures released in mid-June.
The figure is 18% higher than for the equivalent point last year, when 10,472 people had made the crossing.