The National Crime Agency conducted a four-year investigation and a surveillance operation that resulted in the gang’s arrests.
NCA officers observed members of the group driving their VW Touran people carrier to meet a lorry driven by Romanian national Marinel Danut Palage, 31, at an industrial estate in Runcton, West Sussex, in the early hours of 11 March 2019.
The truck had arrived in Portsmouth the night before on a ferry from Caen in northern France, carrying a legitimate load of spinach from Spain.
It was also transporting at least three illegal immigrants to the UK.
After meeting the lorry, the VW drove away, only to come to a halt in a layby on the A27, where migrants were transferred into two additional cars.
The NCA stopped one vehicle, a Vauxhall Astra, on the A34 northbound. Two Iraqi nationals, a sister and brother aged 18 and 13, were in the passenger seats of a car driven by gang member Mariwan Mustafa, 33. The second vehicle, an Audi A3, was stopped on the M3 by police, and a 30-year-old Iraqi woman was discovered. Palage tried to flee as NCA officers approached his truck, but he was apprehended and arrested.
Plastic bags containing £34,500 cash were discovered during a search of his cab. Additional bundles of euros and sterling worth around 7,000 were discovered hidden behind a tachograph panel. Later that morning, the VW Touran came to a halt on the A3 near Liphook. Goran Jalal, 37, of Bradford, is the alleged ringleader of the network and was in contact with Palage to arrange the meet-up. He is now wanted by the NCA after fleeing his arrest. Kamaran Kader, 44, a gang member from Bradford, was in the passenger seat. Following the seizure of phones, NCA investigators pieced together the conspiracy, identifying other members of the group and at least two other suspected people smuggling events into Portsmouth in January and March 2019. Pshtewan Ghafour, 37, of Middlesbrough, had travelled down to Portsmouth with Jalal, Kader on the same nights that Palage arrived in his lorry on a ferry from France, according to phone evidence. Ghafour and Kader’s fingerprints were found on the bags and envelopes containing the money after an examination of the cash seized from Palage’s lorry. Through phone evidence, two other members of the group were identified: Jamal Saied, 38, of Manchester, and Hemin Salih, 37. They were also discovered to be in the Chichester area on the night of the March 11 handover. Palage and Ghafour were found guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration yesterday after a four-week trial at Bournemouth Crown Court. They were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on April 13, along with Kader, who pleaded guilty earlier. Saied and Mustafa were convicted of aiding illegal immigration. Salih fled before the trial began, but was convicted of the same offence in his absence. They will be sentenced on April 20th. This people smuggling group was content to put vulnerable migrants, including children, in the back of refrigerated lorries for hours on end during dangerous Channel crossings,” said NCA Branch Commander Richard Harrison. It is clear from the evidence we discovered that their sole motivation was profit, with no regard for the migrants’ safety.” The NCA prioritises combating organised immigration crime, and we are determined to do everything we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved.” Warrants for Jalal and Salih’s arrest have been issued, and anyone with information on their whereabouts should contact the NCA on 0370 4967622 or the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.