(AFP) A French boss of a second-hand boat firm was sentenced to prison Friday for selling dozens of vessels to desperate migrants who used them to cross the English Channel.
Emmanuel Desreux, 45, was given 18 months behind bars and another 18 months suspended sentence for selling what investigators said was 39 inflatable boats with motors to migrants to navigate across the busy waterway from France to Britain.
A taxi driver accomplice who organised the transport of the boats and some of the migrants to beaches, Jean-Claude Demeyer, 54, was also sentenced by the court in Boulogne-sur-mer to one year in prison, with another year suspended.
