People trafficker collected benefits while making up to £12m

The kingpin of an international people smuggling ring was being paid state benefits while making up to £12m flooding Europe with migrants, a court heard. Egyptian Ahmed Ebid, 42, organised ‘death trap’ boat crossings across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy between 3 October 2022 and 21 July 2023. The former fisherman, who came to the UK on a boat, was working with people smuggling networks in north Africa to organise boats to bring over hundreds of migrants at a…