Great Barr based smuggler who brought people to UK in 'flimsy dinghies' among three convicted
Three people smugglers including a man based in Great Barr who is suspected of being behind dozens of cross-Channel crossings have been convicted.
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British national Pistiwan Jameel, of Old Oscott Lane in Old Oscott, had contacts with people smuggling gangs based in France, and would broker spaces for his clients while also collecting payments in the UK.
The 54-year-old, who came to the UK from Iraq in 2002, was watched by surveillance officers at the National Crime Agency (NCA) as he met with a client, Albanian national Artan Halilaj, in Birmingham on September 1 last year.
A handover of cash took place before Jameel made a phone call in which he was heard to say, “my three passengers, all good to go, all okay”.
Artan Halilaj, who was at the time living in Southall in London, had himself arrived on a small boat from Belgium earlier that year.
The 39-year-old claimed asylum, but disappeared from the hotel where he was supposed to be staying as his claim was processed by the Home Office.
Artan was organising passage for his relative Fiorentino Halilaj, aged 25 and of no fixed address, who crossed the Channel in a small boat the next day on September 2.
His phone was taken into the possession of the immigration authorities, but it was later handed to the NCA, and found to contain a contact for Jameel.
Over the following days NCA officers recorded his side of a number of conversations Jameel had with criminal associates, in which he arranged crossings for his customers, often referring to migrants as ‘pigeons’ or ‘sticks’.
On one occasion, he was found to have complained that competition in the people smuggling market was driving prices down.
In another conversation he claimed to have made at least two million US dollars for his criminal networks through his contacts, the NCA said.
Another conversation suggested that he was involved in moving a migrant to Turkey from the Middle East, and expected to earn around ten thousand US dollars from the enterprise.
Artan and Jameel were arrested by October 23, 2023, while Fiorentino was arrested the following day at the immigration detention centre where he is being held.
Jameel’s phone was found to contain information and messages relating to up to 50 people who had entered the UK illegally on small boats during 2022 and 2023, including images taken on boats in the Channel.
Artan and Fiorentino Halilaj were both charged with one count of facilitating illegal immigration, while Jameel was charged with two counts.
Jameel and Fiorentino both pleaded guilty, while Artan denied involvement, but was today (November 12) found guilty following a week-long trial at Birmingham Crown Court. All three will be sentenced on December 3.
NCA branch operations manager Paul Jones said: “It is clear from the evidence we were able to gather over the course of our investigation that Pistiwan Jameel was a prolific UK-based broker for people smuggling gangs in France.
"The true number of crossings that Jameel facilitated will never be known but the evidence indicates that he has been assisting in the movement of migrants illegally into the UK for a considerable amount of time.
“People smugglers like him don’t care about the safety and security of those they transport, and he was quite happy to put people in life-threatening situations on the sea in flimsy dinghies just so he could make money.
“This is why tackling the gangs involved in organised immigration crime remains a priority for the NCA, and we will do all we can to disrupt and dismantle them.”
