Channel migrant deaths: Smugglers net millions per kilometer
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By LORI HINNANT and DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
CALAIS, France (AP) — Migrant smuggling networks organizing English Channel crossings have reaped tens of millions of euros this year. 2021 has been the busiest and deadliest ever recorded. Police and aid workers say the price per person varies depending on the network between 3,000 and 7,000 euros ($3,380 and $8,000). Experts say it’s big business run by organized crime. The rubber boats sometimes leave in a flotilla. More than two dozen a day. And they’re more overloaded than ever with people trying to reach Britain from France. Twenty-seven people died Wednesday in a sinking that is now being investigated by French organized crime prosecutors.