BBC investigation into migrant smuggler leads to Kirchberg

"You're a smuggler. We know who you are," says BBC's Andrew Harding to the man at the tram stop nearby the European Parliament.

The BBC investigation, and the released video of the interaction with the smuggler, is the culmination of a two-month investigation into the death of five people in the sea off northern France. One of the migrants was the seven-year-old Sara, who suffocated to death inside an inflatable boat.

"You took money from her parents. We know that she and four other people died. That's you," says the journalist. "No, no, not me," the smuggler replies.

From a migrant camps around Calais and Boulogne, a French police unit in Lille, a market in Essex, the port of Antwerp and then Berlin, the investigation finally brought journalist Andrew Harding and his team to Luxembourg. Specifically, the migrant reception centre in Kirchberg.

His investigation, with photo proof depicting his location inside the migrant reception centre in Kirchberg, showed that this man was the smuggler responsible for Sara's death. His nickname: Jabal, or "The Mountain" in Arabic.

“I swear it’s not me,” the smuggler kept saying, before boarding the tram. His identity was confirmed by the Iraqi passport and Italian ID the journalist had seen, as well as his phone number which, when called, rang the phone in his pocket.

Posing as migrants crossing the Channel

In the weeks before the confrontation, a member of the BBC team had been posing as a migrant seeking to cross the Channel from France to England. This put the team member in contact with the smuggler.

Phone conversations were secretly recorded between the two. In those calls, the smuggler confirmed his identity and said he was still in the smuggling business.

For the price of €1,500 he could offer "an easy journey" with "extra guards, all carrying weapons".

The investigation was prompted by witnessing the death of the young girl, Sara, in the resort town of Wimereux in France on 23 April.

Police clashed with departing migrants, and BBC journalists witnessed the chaos unfolding on the cramped inflatable boats. A young girl in a pink jacket, later identified as Sara, was crushed to death.

While the men working on the boats were detained by French police, they did not catch the bosses behind the vast network. By tracking down and speaking to other migrants on that boat, the BBC continued narrowing down its list of potential smugglers behind this operation.

The journalists ultimately tracked down one of the key figures in the smuggling network to Luxembourg's migrant reception centre in Kirchberg. Waiting outside the gate for three days, they finally confronted him.

The BBC informed French police of the findings, who have not yet commented on the case. “My daughter’s death must not be in vain," Sara's father Ahmed told the BBC.

Luxembourg judiciary not yet involved

The Luxembourg judiciary is not yet involved in the case, said judiciary spokesperson Henri Eippers. No request has yet been received from the French authorities.

The family ministry said that they had seen the report and would check the matter internally.