A people smuggler who organized a migrant crossing across the English Channel that left a seven-year-old girl and four others dead has been located and confronted over his alleged crimes.
The gang’s leader, Rebwar Abas Zangana, known as ‘The Mountain’, was identified as the man behind the boat launch in April where a schoolgirl named Sara was seen suffocating under a crowd of bodies in the inflatable off northern France.
Footage from the beach that night shows the moment more than 100 migrants, including Sara and her family, desperately tried to board the small boat in the hope of reaching Britain.
Terribly overcrowded, the ship floated a few hundred meters from shore before beginning to capsize, causing panic that led to a stampede in which Sara was trampled to death.
Apparently terrified of being arrested for his role in the disaster, The Mountain fled and hid in Luxembourg, where a team of bbc The journalists found and unmasked the ruthless smuggler.
Footage of the moment they challenge The Mountain shows him squirming when presented with a photo of the girl who died while supposedly earning money from her family.
Rebwar Abas Zangana, known as ‘The Mountain’, is confronted by BBC journalists over his alleged role in deadly migrant boat disaster
Sara (pictured) died while trying to cross the Channel to Britain in April.
‘These people are greedy. They only care about money. I hope they face justice. All of them,” said Ahmed, Sara’s father, of the depraved smugglers he blames for the tragedy. “My daughter’s death must not be in vain.”
British police arrested two suspected smugglers following Sara’s death, but it is believed that these men were low-level officers who may even have been working on the ship itself.
In an effort to track down the bosses of the smuggling ring, the BBC spoke to survivors of the April 23 tragedy.
Many of those who attempted to reach Britain had only dealt with middlemen, paying them exorbitant sums for the journey after meeting them in migrant camps.
But three immigrants helped identify the leader of a gang operating in Belgium, a man known as Jabal, which in Arabic means mountain.
The team traveled to Antwerp, where they found a middleman in a barbershop in the city.
posing As a potential client wanting to cross the English Channel, an undercover journalist spoke to the middleman, who agreed to put him in touch with La Montaña.
Almost two weeks later, the reporter received a call from the smuggler, who asked: “So you want to get to Britain? How many seats do you need? Are you ready?”
Footage from the beach that night shows the moment more than 100 migrants, including Sara and her family, desperately tried to board the ship.
The migrant boat was seen struggling a few hundred metres from the shore before the tragedy occurred.
Despite the numerous deaths his scheme had caused, the team revealed that the brazen smuggler continues to run his shady operation, charging migrants more than £1,200 (€1,500) for the chance to reach Britain.
The Mountain assured the journalist that the cross-Channel trip was “safe work” and that it had improved its tactics since Sara’s death.
Hours later, however, he fled Antwerp, and a source suggested to the BBC that he feared arrest for his role in the migrants’ deaths.
The BBC team tracked him to his hideout in Luxembourg, where they managed to monitor his movements at a reception center for refugees and immigrants.
The Mountain was located by BBC journalists in Luxembourg, where he is said to have fled after leaving Antwerp.
After a few days of monitoring him, they chased him down and confronted the crime boss as he was heading to a station.
They presented their accusations to him and the smuggler, surprised, responded: “It’s not me, brother.” I know nothing. What is your problem?’
Despite his relatively calm and low voice, he seemed anxious and shook his head when asked about Sara’s death and whether he was responsible.
Sara (right) pictured with her father Ahmed
The team then called his phone number and his mobile rang, confirming they had the right man: the same person who had offered to send their reporter on a dangerous boat across the Channel.
Despite the life-threatening risks of the journey, a record number of migrants – more than 12,900 – have crossed the Channel this year in a bid to reach Britain.
Sara’s father, Ahmed, previously said he felt he had no choice but to try to make the trip with his family.
The Iraqi national, who spent 14 years in Europe after fleeing his homeland, revealed that he had spent years applying for asylum in the EU, only to be rejected again and again.
Sara (right) with her brother Hussam (left) and sister Rahaf (center)
He and his family faced deportation back to Iraq, leaving them only one option: cross the English Channel to British shores.
“If people were in my place, what would they do? Those who criticize me have not suffered what I have suffered. This was my last option,” he said.
Today, Sara’s surviving family – Ahmed, his wife Nour Al Saeed, and their two other children, Rahaf, 12, and Hussam, nine – live in a temporary migrant shelter on the outskirts of Lille, France.
The family has no right to remain in France after the autumn, the BBC reports, and dreams of a “normal life” and reuniting with relatives in England.
