Head of people-smuggling ring who fled UK to avoid prison is arrested

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The head of a large-scale people smuggling ring who fled the country to avoid prison has been arrested at Manchester airport.

Tarik Namik, 45, owned a car wash business in Stockport and led a “prolific and sophisticated crime group” smuggling migrants from Iraq and Iran.

Travelling back from Turkey, Namik was detained by officers from Greater Manchester Police on his arrival.

His group were first known to authorities from the National Crime Agency in 2017, when an investigation was launched.

Four others who assisted Namik were previously jailed in December having pled guilty to conspiracy to help asylum seekers enter the country.

Namik’s operation involved smuggling people into France or Germany from the Balkans, before then smuggling them into the UK in lorries.

One incident led by the group in September 2017 led to nine migrants fleeing from a Polish-registered lorry in a layby in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. Their escape had been witnessed by another driver.

According to the National Crime Agency, one of the migrants had dialled 999 to beg for help. The group of migrants, which included five children, were desperate for food and water and were subsequently taken to hospital.

Other incidents involved migrants being smuggled into the UK in compartments of a lorry’s cabin.

Recordings found on Namik’s phone during the investigation suggest that his operation charged around €1,800 (£1,548) per migrant.

At the hearing held in his absence in December, the court were told that smugglers often used complicit Turkish lorry drivers to smuggle migrants.

Two methods of smuggling were offered to migrants. They were offered individual concealment within a lorry’s compartments, or larger groups of migrants hidden in the back of a lorry to be released once through border controls.

Namik, along with two other gang members, were arrested and charged in April 2018. However he failed to turn up to his court hearing in December 2022 having fled the country.

National Crime Agency branch commander Richard Harrison said: “Namik was a prolific people smuggler whose crime group put vulnerable migrants at great risk while he reaped the profits.

“I’m delighted that he will now face justice for the offences he committed. Fugitives never come off our radar, and I’d like to thank our colleagues at Greater Manchester Police for their assistance in ensuring he was detained quickly the moment he set foot back in the UK.”

The five gang members admitted to charges against them and face a combined total of 24 years in prison.

Namik was due to appear before Manchester Magistrates Court on Saturday and is likely to return to crown court on Monday to be formally sentenced.