He boasted that he was the ‘King of Transport’, but some of his passengers didn’t survive the journey.
Adem Savas was named as Britain’s most wanted man after becoming the biggest supplier of small boats for migrant crossings in the English Channel.
The 45-year-old from Turkey made millions supplying thousands of rubber boats, feeble engines and flimsy lifejackets to criminal gangs, with his shoddy equipment said to be responsible for scores of deaths.
The boat tycoon was so prolific that the National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that he supplied around half of the boats and engines in all migrant Channel crossings.
Now the smuggling lynchpin has been jailed for 11 years after being convicted today of aggravated human smuggling.
A court in Belgium heard how Savas was involved in people smuggling for a decade, supplying countless criminal gangs with cheap boats and engines he sourced from China.
He became the main importer of ‘Parsun’ outboard engines, the type most frequently used by gangs operating small boats in the Channel.
Flogging flimsy boats and underpowered engines for £4,000 on average, investigators believe he made millions from the trade, with Belgium prosecutors tracing at least $1.7million worth of assets including property, farmland, and luxury cars in Istanbul where he ran his operation.
Savas managed to stay undetected for years by bribing corrupt Turkish police officers paying for them to go on luxury holidays, the court heard.
It was only when the NCA took down an major Europe-wide smuggling ring thought to be behind the movement of more than 10,000 migrants in small boat crossings that they identified the supplier.
Police uncovered messages between Savas and the head of the smuggling network Hewa Rahimpur, about deaths in the channel after boats sank.
In other messages with Rahimpur, who was later jailed for 13 years for leading a people smuggling gang, they discussed the UK Government’s policy on migrants.
Savas boasted about supplying 1,000 outboard motors for the European refugee market, calling himself ‘the King of Transport and Export’.
Investigators discovered that his boats were moved overland from Turkey into Bulgaria, and then across Europe to Germany where they would be stored before being used in the Channel.
Savas used a Netherlands haulage firm connected with drug trafficking to transport the boats to people smuggling networks in Belgium and France between 2019 and 2024.
But Belgium police believe Savas became involved in people smuggling as far back as 2015 after expanding his nautical business supplying fishermen and tourists into the deadly trade.
At his peak in 2023, he became the NCA’s ‘most high value target’ after it was assessed that he supplied equipment in around half of all Channel crossings.
In one video of his huge warehouse thousands of boxes of inflatable boats could be seen piled high, waiting for delivery to criminal gangs.
In the clip, Savas’ associates could be seen kicking the boxes and pulling at the rubber in a demonstration of how flimsy they were.
Investigators also discovered a handwritten price list for boats, engines and life jackets, offering a deal of seven boats for $29,000 (£22,000).
An international operation was mounted to capture the kingpin involving the NCA, Belgian and Dutch law enforcement.
After receiving a tip-off that he was planning to attend a boat trade fair in the Netherlands, police swooped arresting him as he touched down in Schipol Airport in November 2024.
Police found phone messages in which Savas admitted he ‘sold too much to refugees’.
But the kingpin claimed he was just a businessman who thought his boats were being used for ‘fishing activities’.
NCA Director General of Operations, Rob Jones, said: ‘Adem Savas was without doubt the most significant supplier of boats and engines to people smuggling gangs involved in organising deadly crossings in the Channel, the head of a criminal network stretching across Europe to the beaches of northern France and across into the UK.
‘He pretended to run a legitimate maritime supply company, but in reality he knew exactly how the equipment he provided would be used.
‘He also knew exactly how unsuitable it was for long sea crossings.
‘Boats and engines supplied by Savas were likely involved in numerous fatal events in the Channel – he made money from each of those.
‘I’m grateful to the numerous law enforcement partners from across Europe who have worked with the NCA during the course of this investigation, particularly those in Belgium and the Netherlands.
‘Tackling the gangs involved in these dangerous crossings remains a top priority for the NCA, and we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle them, wherever they operate.’
Minister for Border Security and Asylum Alex Norris, said: ‘We are cracking down on the criminals exchanging human lives for cash.
‘Our brilliant National Crime Agency officers have worked alongside international allies to take down this smuggling kingpin and put him behind bars where he belongs.
‘Through our new Borders Act, law enforcement now have strengthened powers to intercept, detain and arrest people smugglers, faster – restoring order and control to our borders.’
