When Egyptian-born fisherman Ahmed Ebid arrived in the UK in October 2022 on a small boat from France, it didn’t take him long to make the most of his new home.
Alongside his wife and daughter, then aged about 12, he was put up in a taxpayer-funded block of flats with a deco-style in the desirable Isleworth area of southwest London.
Ebid, 42, was given the lodgings while he applied for asylum, despite previously serving a jail sentence in Italy for six years for attempting to smuggle a tonne of cannabis into the country.
But instead of using his new home properly, he used it as his headquarters while he organised an international people smuggling ring.
He masterminded a £12 million operation, in which around 3,800 migrants, including women and children, were transported to Europe from Libya on just seven crossings of dangerously overcrowded fishing vessels.
Known as ‘Captain Ahmed’ on Facebook, he was eventually caught after investigators linked his London-based mobile number to satellite phones that were used to make distress calls from the boats to the Italian coastguard.
His home was raided in June 2023 by Britain’s FBI, the National Crime Agency (NCA) which uncovered evidence which would unmask Ebid as one of Britain’s most prolific and ruthless people smugglers.
He is expected to receive a long prison sentence at Southwark crown court in London on Monday.
Ahmed Ebid, 42, masterminded a £12 million operation, in which around 3,800 migrants, including women and children, were transported to Europe from Libya on overcrowded fishing boats
The moment Ebid was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in Hounslow, West London, on June 21, 2023
Ebid had been using his taxpayer-funded deco-style block of flats in the desirable Isleworth area in southwest London as a base to mastermind a ruthless people smuggling gang
Ebid is the first person in Britain to be convicted of smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean, in a new crackdown on the international smuggling gangs being organised from Britain.
The NCA believes that although his clients landed on Italian shores, some of them ended up making their way to Britain.
They were charged an average of £3,300 for the dangerous crossing.
Ebid’s scheme involved arranging for 600 to 700 migrants to be placed on ramshackle fishing boats that had a capacity of less than 100.
They would then sail from Africa, and upon entering Italian waters, they would use a satellite phone to make a distress call which would trigger a rescue at sea by the Italian coastguard.
The Italian authorities eventually discovered that data taken from the recovered satellite phones showed they had been repeatedly called from a mobile number in Britain, which was traced to Ebid’s flat.
The NCA then placed Ebid under surveillance, bugging his flat so they could listen into his phone conversations.
It was then that they discovered that Ebid was acting as a ‘virtual skipper’ for the whole operation, according to the Times.
Ebid, 40, organised death trap boat crossings with people smuggling networks in North Africa, transferring hundreds of people at a time across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy
A boat with migrants seen under the lighthouse in Lampedusa, Italy on August 4, 2022
Although most vessels sail from the Tripoli area of Libya, Ebid’s boats were launched from Benghazi, which is closer to the country’s border with Egypt.
The journey to Italy is known as the ‘central Mediterranean route’ and it is regarded by experts as one of the world’s most dangerous crossings.
Almost 25,000 people have lost their lives attempting the arduous journey since 2014, with 382 dead from this year already, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Nearly 19,000 migrants successfully crossed the Mediterranean over the crossing this year.
In comparison, a record 12,000 have arrived in Britain on small boats from France.
But at the height of demand in 2023, almost 158,000 migrants travelled from northern Africa to Italy, according to the IOM.
Planning to cross the sea took careful planning, and Ebid was required to be on hand to discuss tactics with gang members in north Africa.
Migrants being brought to shore on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 15, 2023
Illegal migrants disembark from a Border Force vessel into Dover port on May 12, 2025 in Dover, England
In an attempt to confuse authorities, Ebid used code words, such as referring to boats as ‘cars’.
He was caught telling an accomplice ‘the most dangerous trip to Europe is this trip’.
In another recorded conversation, which were revealed in court, Ebid banned migrants from taking mobiles onto the vessels, saying: ‘Phones are not allowed … [dissenters] will be killed, thrown into the sea.’
The NCA and its Italian counterparts linked Ebid to seven crossings in total, which began just days after he had arrived as an asylum seeker in Britain in October 2022.
In one of the boats that was rescued at sea by the Italian authorities, at least two bodies were discovered.
And a four-year-old girl had to be airlifted to hospital from another ‘death trap’ vessel.
Migrants disembark from a Border Force catamaran at the Port of Dover on May 1, 2025
But investigators believe Ebid was involved in many other smuggling trips, involving thousands of migrants.
Ebid was charged following the raid on his flat, where the NCA discovered notebooks and seized various electronic devices.
He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful entry into an EU member state.
But he tried to downplay his leading role and claimed he had only received €15,000 (£12,600) from his smuggling gang for navigational assistance.
However at the hearing in March, Judge Adam Hiddleston agreed with the NCA, which argued that Ebid had charged migrants an average fee of about £3,300 for each crossing – although poorer clients were given a discounted rate.
The judge said Ebid was involved for ‘personal gain’ and operated the trafficking of migrants from Africa to Italy at a ‘very high level’.
He added that his primary motive was a ‘great deal of money’ and that he must have managed to hide a substantial amount from the authorities.
Ebid’s case highlights a shift in strategy by Sir Keir Starmer’s government and law enforcement agencies to tackle the people smuggling gangs ‘upstream’, thousands of miles from the small boat launches in northern France.
Ebid’s case highlights a shift in strategy by Sir Keir Starmer’s government and law enforcement agencies to tackle the people smuggling gangs ‘upstream’
Four suspected smugglers were arrested in Libya earlier this year based on intelligence gathered by the NCA.
The agency is understood to have deployed officers in the region for the first time for the operation.
It comes as Starmer struggles to get a grip on immigration and combat the threat from Reform UK – which have promised to drastically reduce immigration.
Earlier this year, four suspected smugglers were arrested in Libya based on intelligence gathered by the NCA. The agency is understood to have deployed officers for the first time in the region.
Rick Jones, a deputy director at the NCA said: ‘The fight against organised immigration crime is not limited to the English Channel.
‘We are working to target, disrupt and dismantle these criminal networks wherever they operate, in source countries and in transit countries.’
The Home Office refused to comment on Ebid’s case due to the ongoing legal proceedings.
