A convicted smuggler, once described as the “godfather” of French migrant camps, is living in Leicestershire and appears to be seeking asylum while working illegally, a BBC investigation has found.
Twana Jamal was sentenced to five years in prison in France in 2016, where authorities described him as one of the most successful smugglers ever arrested.
Prosecutors said the Iraqi Kurd, then aged 36, earned up to £100,000 a week ferrying illegal immigrants across the Channel.
Following a tip-off this year, we tracked Jamal to the village of Blaby and saw him working, driving a car without a license and apparently using a false name.
Jamal’s presence in the UK raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of existing border controls in screening asylum seekers who have committed serious crimes abroad.
Immigration officers told the BBC that since the UK left the European Union it has become more difficult to check criminal records from some other countries.
We found more than 20 active people smugglers who reached the UK – some with convictions abroad and others seeking asylum under false names.
We received information that Jamal, another major figure in the trade, was now living and working in the UK. He was described as driving a BMW and looking “very, very rich”.
Like Jaf, Jamal was linked to the Ranya Boys, one of a handful of Kurdish gangs that European law enforcement officials say have come to dominate cross-Channel migrant smuggling over the past 15 years.
Jamal’s trial in France gave us key details about his journey. Prosecutors said that from around 2012 to 2016 he operated from the Grand Synthe camp, near Dunkirk, charging clients between £4,500 and £5,000 to cross to the UK.
At that time, the preferred mode of travel for cross-Channel smugglers was the freight truck rather than the small boat.
The court also heard that Jamal’s nickname in the camps was “Pasha”, a Turkish word meaning someone of high rank.
Jamal claimed in the French court that it was a case of mistaken identity, but he was found guilty and told he faced deportation to Iraqi Kurdistan after his release.
We narrowed the search for Jamal to several sources: one of them arranged a call with Jamal under false pretenses and recorded their conversation.
Jamal said he was now based in Leicester and boasted: “We know everyone in this city, this city is ours.”
He made “a lot of money,” he continued, and told our contact there was work to be done “moving cigarettes” from a warehouse.
Jamal also admitted to driving a car without a license, but said he did not fear being investigated or arrested.
“Nobody touches us here,” he said. “Even the police won’t arrest you.”
Using this information, we searched for businesses in the Leicester area that might be linked to Jamal and found two mini markets in Blaby, a village of around 6,000 people on the outskirts of the city.
The mini markets, both named Candy Corner, are located within a few meters of each other on either side of the main street (coincidentally, one is also next to the constituency office of the local Conservative MP).
Last month, we observed for several days the comings and goings of the brightly colored stores, which sell vapes and candy until late in the evening.
We had a photo from Jamal’s court appearance in France in 2016, which showed him flanked by police and wearing a weightlifting vest.
Jamal’s case is not isolated. Our investigation uncovered more than 20 other people smugglers living in the UK. Law enforcement agencies in Europe have confirmed 15 of these cases, some of which resulted in convictions by courts in France, Germany and Belgium.
We have heard of a man convicted in France, who now lives in Manchester and sells used cars and is still believed to be involved in people smuggling.
Another man, also of French belief, is based in Blackpool. He applied for asylum under a false name and boasts on social networks of having obtained a residence permit.
Since Brexit, the UK no longer has data sharing agreements with many EU countries, making it more difficult to check asylum seekers’ criminal and immigration records, according to Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union.
“If we could share databases, even just with our closest neighbors, with Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France, for example, then yes, we would know that they have been convicted of migrant smuggling,” she said.
Asylum seekers are fingerprinted on arrival in the UK and checked against UK police databases, but these do not necessarily show a conviction in another country.
The Home Office told us: “All asylum seekers are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity for the purposes of immigration, security and crime checks. »
This point was also carried out last Novemberexternal by Border Security Minister Alex Norris, who added that to protect the integrity of the screening processes, details of the checks “are not publicly disclosed.”
The Home Office added that the UK had “a number of agreements with countries which enable the sharing of criminal record information” and that immigration enforcement was currently at its highest level in history, with arrests for illegal work up 83%.
