In 2020, Adnan followed a Sudanese refugee across the Alps from Italy to France, high in the mountains at night in temperatures of -15°C. Later, he documented the lives of migrants and refugees making the journey across Europe, many out of desperation and some out of choice. In 2021, Adnan helped document the operation of people smuggling gangs moving people from Calais to Dover across the English Channel. During his time in Afghanistan, he met many people wanting to leave after the Taliban took over the country and documented the routes they used including the smuggling routes through Iran. In 2022, Adnan photographed refugees and migrants in boats as they neared the English coast.
“Ya Baba!” cries the little girl, tears streaming down her eyes. She’s around four years old, calling for her father in Arabic. Her father is near me, and we’re both waist-deep in the sea. The girl stands on the sand, her arms wrapped around her mother’s legs. In front is the wide, black sea stretching into a dark sky.
It’s 3 a.m., Sept. 1, 2020. We are on the Blériot Beach in Calais, France, on the far side of the English Channel, the world’s busiest shipping lane.
I can feel the power of the sea as it pushes us around. The father sees me, another brown man in the water, and thinks I’m with them. Further ahead is a gray, inflatable boat held by Syrian, Iraqi, and Iranian men; inside, a lone man is bent at the hips desperately trying to get the engine running. Unlike the rest, he isn’t wearing a life jacket because he isn’t making this journey from Calais to Dover; he’s working for the people-smuggling gang I’ve infiltrated. I’m an undercover journalist wearing a secret camera. The engine starts to roar.
From The Gangs of Calais in New Lines Magazine