Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£17K BILL FOR SMALL BOATS KILLER SUSPECT FORGOTTEN BY PRISON
Suspect in 27 migrant deaths not at hearing
AN alleged ringleader of the worst small boats tragedy in the Channel will spend four more months in Britain at the taxpayers’ expense after a blunder by prison officials.
Harem Ahmed Abwbaker, 33, is wanted in France in connection with the deaths of 27 migrants in 2021.
He was due to appear at a full extradition hearing this month but jail officials failed to bring him before the court, meaning the hearing had to be rescheduled to August 14.
It will cost the taxpayer approximately £17,000 to keep Abwbaker, an Iranian national, in custody until the new hearing.
The total bill for his time at HMP Wandsworth is already estimated to be over £80,000.
It is understood the blunder was caused by guards at the London jail not knowing Abwbaker needed to be at Westminster magistrates court in Central London.
He was in his cell as the judge, lawyers and others gathered in the courtroom to stare at an empty dock.
Abwbaker is said to have charged migrants around £2,680 each to board
an inflatable dinghy in France that had inadequate navigation equipment and life jackets.
The boat deflated and sank some two hours after leaving the northern French coast on November 24, 2021, bound for England.
A fisherman called rescue services after seeing the empty boat and people floating motionless nearby. Victims included five women and a seven-yearold girl. Four people remain missing.
Abwbaker faces a string of charges in France, including manslaughter, human trafficking and being a member of an organised crime group.
French prosecutors have so far charged at least 10 people for their alleged role in the disaster.
Following the court no-show, District Judge Simon Heptonstall demanded an official response from prison chiefs.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Admin errors like this are extremely rare and the trial has been rescheduled for the earliest opportunity.”
Abwbaker was arrested last
November by National Crime Agency officers at a hotel in Cheltenham, Glos.
At the time, NCA deputy director Craig Turner called it a “significant arrest” following extensive enquiries and said Abwbaker was “suspected of having played a key role in the manslaughter of those who died”.
More than 45,000 migrants arrived in the UK by boat last year after crossing the Channel. So far this year, the figure is 4,850. In December, four died after their small boat capsized.