An Egyptian fisherman based in the UK has been handed a 25-year prison sentence in the first-ever UK migrant smuggling conviction involving the illegal transport of thousands across the Mediterranean.
Ahmed Ebid, 42, helped coordinate the movement of nearly 3,800 migrants from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). The smuggling operation, estimated to have generated £12 million, used overcrowded and unsafe fishing vessels to ferry men, women and children across one of the world’s most perilous migration routes.
Smuggler lived in UK asylum limbo
Ebid arrived in the UK by small boat in 2022 after serving a five-year sentence in Italy for attempted drug smuggling. While awaiting the outcome of an unresolved asylum application, he lived in Home Office-funded accommodation in south-west London, where he continued his smuggling activities.
At his sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Adam Hiddleston described Ebid’s actions as “a commercial enterprise, pure and simple,” adding that he “ruthlessly exploited desperate individuals” for profit.
Satellite phone evidence led to arrest
Italian security services began tracking satellite phones used by migrants calling coastguards during crossings from Libya. Several devices were found to have also connected to a British mobile number, later traced to Ebid. Surveillance and audio recordings from his bugged home revealed his direct involvement in managing multiple smuggling operations.
He was heard ordering threats of violence and even instructing an associate to drown migrants caught with phones, to prevent exposure. The NCA recovered notebooks containing Mediterranean navigation routes and payment records, and Ebid even styled himself on social media as “Captain Ahmed.”
Key figure in ruthless trafficking ring
Despite initially downplaying his role, Ebid admitted to facilitating illegal immigration under UK law. However, the NCA investigation confirmed he held a high-level managerial position in a wider smuggling network that bribed officials and used fear to control migrants.
Jacque Beer, regional head of investigation at the NCA, said: “Ebid was part of a crime network that preyed upon the desperation of migrants. His cruel disregard for human life was evident in how he spoke of drowning those who failed to follow his rules. To him, they were simply a means of profit.”
With his conviction marking the first of its kind in Britain, Ebid is expected to be deported upon completing his sentence.
