A people smuggler who moaned that competition in the evil trade was driving his prices down is facing jail after investigators from the National Crime Agency smashed his enterprise.
Pistiwan Jameel, 54, acted as a broker for smuggling gangs in France and boasted of making at least two million US dollars (£1.57m) for his criminal networks through his contacts.
The Birmingham-based fixer, who came to the UK from Iraq in 2002, was suspected of being behind dozens of cross-Channel small boat crossings and is now in facing sentencing for people smuggling offences alongside two others.
A court heard the British national had contacts with people smuggling gangs based in France, and would broker spaces on boats for his clients while also collecting payments in the UK.
NCA surveillance officers watched as Jameel met one such client, Albanian national Artan Halilaj, 39, in Birmingham on September 1 last year.
Pistiwan Jameel, 54, acted as a broker for smuggling gangs
NCA surveillance officers watched as Jameel met one such client, Albanian national Artan Halilaj, 39, in Birmingham on September 1 last year
Fiorentino Halilaj, 25, crossed the Channel in a small boat
A handover of cash took place, and shortly afterwards Jameel made a phone call in which he was heard to say that he had ‘my three passengers, all good to go, all okay’.
Artan Halilaj, who was at the time living in Southall, West London, had arrived on a small boat from Belgium earlier last year.
He 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, 25, who crossed the Channel in a small boat the next day on 2 September.
His phone was taken into the possession of the immigration authorities, but it was later handed to the NCA.
It was found to contain a contact for Jameel.
Over the following days NCA officers were able to record 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 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 associates on the back of his contacts.
Another conversation suggested that was expecting to earn around £7,800 by helping to move a migrant from the Middle East to Turkey.
Artan and Jameel were arrested by NCA officers last October, and Fiorentino was arrested at an immigration centre the following day.
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.
The boat pictured arriving in Britain, the trip costed £8,000
Artan was organising passage for his relative Fiorentino Halilaj, 25, who crossed the Channel in a small boat the next day on 2 September
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 he was convicted today following a week-long trial at Birmingham Crown Court. All three are now in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
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.’
The NCA’s investigation was supported by Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigations and Border Force.
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