Eighteen members of a notorious people-smuggling gang, described as ‘merchants of death,’ have been sentenced in France for orchestrating thousands of perilous boat crossings of the English Channel. The group, predominantly composed of Iraqi Kurds, was dismantled following a coordinated Europe-wide operation in 2022. Mirkhan Rasoul, the gang leader, received the longest imprisonment and had previously been convicted on smuggling charges. This gang was linked to approximately 10,000 crossings, with authorities seizing over 100 boats and significant smuggling paraphernalia during the crackdown.