Key human smuggling criminal jailed in UK

LONDON

A Turkish man who provided thousands of small boats and engines to people smugglers operating in the English Channel has been sentenced to prison, the English media has announced.

Adem Savaş, previously listed by the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) as its most wanted individual, was described as “undoubtedly the most significant supplier” to the gangs facilitating dangerous crossings between 2019 and 2024.

The Turkish national was handed an 11-year prison term and fined $465,000 on Jan. 7, after admitting to charges of people smuggling and involvement in an organized crime group.

The NCA stated that Savaş likely earned millions from the operation, charging an average of $5,300 for packages of boats and engines.

The 45-year-old is believed to have supplied equipment used in roughly half of all Channel crossings in 2023, cementing his role as a major figure in the European people-smuggling network.

He was sentenced in a Bruges court following a joint investigation by the NCA and Belgian authorities, having been arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in November 2024. The agency confirmed he was a “key supplier of boats and engines.”

Rob Jones, the NCA’s director general of operations, said Savaş’s supplies “were likely involved in numerous fatalities in the Channel.”

“He presented himself as running a legitimate maritime supply business, but he was fully aware of how the equipment he sold would be used—and how unsafe it was for long sea journeys,” Jones added.

Home Office data revealed that 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats in 2025, nearly 5,000 more than in 2024.

This marks the highest number since 2022, when almost 46,000 people made the journey.

Since 2020, small boat crossings have become the most frequent method of illegal entry into the U.K.