A small boat dangerously packed with migrants (Image: Getty)
A key fixer for a gang accused of smuggling about 10,000 illegal migrants across the Channel strolled back into Britain days after being convicted in France.
Kaiwan Poore, 41, was released on bail by a French court in November 2024 and went on the run before he was sentenced to five years in jail for his role in the trafficking crime group, described by prosecutors as the “Merchants of Death”.
The Sunday Express can reveal the Iran-born criminal, who has UK citizenship, was scandalously able to return to Britain after his conviction, despite his wanted status, and is understood to have claimed benefits during the eight months before his capture.
Poore was eventually arrested at an address in Stoke by officers from the National Extradition Unit last July, after an arrest warrant was issued by French officials on the day of his sentencing at the Regional Court in Lille.
Last month, he was ordered back to France by a judge at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. He is appealing the ruling.
Kaiwan Poore being detained at Manchester Airport in 2022 before boarding a flight to Turkey (Image: Manuel Harlan)
Poore has three years of his prison sentence left to serve. It emerged during court proceedings that he lived in Coventry, where he helped fund the building of a local mosque, although he claimed to be unemployed and was on Universal Credit.
The fixer was originally picked up by National Crime Agency officers at Manchester Airport in July 2022 as he attempted to board a flight to Turkey.
He was then extradited to France after a previous hearing at the Westminster court.
Poore’s initial capture was part of a European-wide police operation that led to the arrest of some 40 suspected people smugglers, along with the seizure of more than 100 boats, as well as engines and lifejackets.
The fixer and other gang members were charged with facilitating small boat crossings between France and the UK, with the vessels and other equipment being transferred from Germany and the Netherlands to the beaches of northern France.
The gang were described in the French courts as “Merchants of Death”, as they were known for dangerously loading inflatable boats across the Channel up to 15 times over their capacity.
A total of 162 people died in the Channel between 2018 and 2025, according to Migration Observatory.
Each crossing organised by the gang stood to net them around £83,000 in profit.
Gang boss Hewa Rahimpur (Image: National Crime Agency)
Poore was among 18 members of the criminal network convicted following a trial in Lille, northern France in November 2024.
Iraqi mobster Mirkhan Rasoul, 27, ran much of the smuggling operation from his prison cell in Le Havre, where he was serving an eight-year sentence for attempted murder. He was jailed for a further 15 years.
The smuggling organisation’s kingpin was another Iranian national Hewa Rahimpur, who was arrested in a car park in Ilford, Essex, in May 2022 and later jailed for 13 years after being extradited to Belgium.
Poore, who claimed asylum in Britain in 2005 and went on to obtain a UK passport, played a key role in the smuggling operation.
“He organised or participated in the organisation of migrant crossings to the UK, in particular by supplying life jackets and petrol, booking and paying for hotel rooms to accommodate smugglers or migrants, supervising or participating in departures, organising them in advance by participating in the transport of nautical equipment imported into France, and being present at the departure areas,” court documents stated.
The gang’s offences were committed across northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece. Turkey and Germany, between November 2021 and June 2022.
Seized life jackets intended to be used for small boat crossings (Image: Courtesy of the National Crime Agency)
NCA deputy director Craig Turner said at the time of the French court case: “This network was among the most prolific we have come across in terms of the number of crossings they were able to organise.”
Poore declined to give evidence at his recent extradition hearing but in a statement provided to the court said he left the country after his trial because he was “confused” and thought after spending two years in custody he would not have to serve any more jail time.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government will not allow foreign criminals to exploit the system, which is why we are taking firm action to remove foreign national offenders wherever possible.
“People in the UK illegally are not entitled to claim taxpayer-funded benefits.”