British authorities announced Tuesday the arrest of a person in the county of Gloucestershire for his possible connection with last week’s shipwreck in the English Channel in which 27 people perished.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has reported that joint work with French authorities has led to the arrest of the suspect, Harem Ahmed Abwbaker, 32, who is believed to be part of the organized crime group that organizes these dangerous transfers.
Abwbaker will testify on Wednesday and extradition proceedings will begin immediately. This is a significant arrest (…) He is suspected of playing a key role in the deaths of the deceased, said NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner.
«Working closely with our French partners, we are determined to do everything possible to bring justice to the families of those who lost their lives,» said Turner, who also pledged to do everything possible to disrupt and dismantle these «vicious criminal networks».
For her part, the Minister of the Interior, Suella Braverman, thanked the NCA and the rest of the British and French authorities for «their tireless work», but not before remembering the victims and their families, to whom they promise to bring justice.
Last weekend, a small motorboat carrying about thirty people, including children and a pregnant woman, was shipwrecked in the English Channel, 27 of its occupants died and only two were saved. Four others are still missing. This is the worst figure so far this year in the area for these reasons.
UNICEF recalls that at least 744 people in transit have lost their lives in Europe since 2014, nearly 200 of them in an attempt to cross the English Channel. This figure rises to more than 23,000 if deaths recorded in the Mediterranean since 2014 are included, including countless children.
