‘Best smuggler’ jailed for 17 years after arranging Channel small boat crossings

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An Iranian national who dubbed himself “the best smuggler” has been jailed for 17 years after he arranged Channel small boat crossings from his home in Lancashire.

On Friday, Amanj Hasan Zada, of Stefano Road, Preston, was convicted by a jury of three counts of facilitating illegal immigration after a two-week trial at Preston Crown Court, said the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The 34-year-old organised three separate crossings from France to the UK in November and December 2023, but NCA investigators believe he was involved in many more.

Each of the identified crossings involved Kurdish migrants who had travelled through eastern Europe, into Germany, Belgium and then France.

The defendant advertised his business on social media under the name Amanj Zaman and featured videos of thankful migrants who paid for his services.

One video found on YouTube by the NCA – thought to have been recorded in Iraq in 2021 – showed him at a party with musicians singing a song in Kurdish feting him as “the best smuggler”, saying “all the other smugglers have learned from him”, while he throws cash at them and fires a gun in the air in celebration.

NCA officers were able to record conversations he had with other smugglers in which they discussed movements of migrants, locations and successful crossings.

NCA branch commander Martin Clarke said: “Amanj Hasan Zada ran a sophisticated people-smuggling enterprise, using social media to advertise his services.

“While we have uncovered evidence directly linking him to three specific crossings, there is no doubt in my mind that he was likely to have been involved in many more.

“For him it was all about profit and he had no issues with putting people in life-threatening situations as long as he got paid.

“People smugglers like him risk lives, which is why we are determined to do all we can to stop them, wherever they operate.”

The NCA said it has around 70 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking.