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Iranian man described as 'the best smuggler' jailed for 17 years after helping migrants cross Channel

8 November 2024, 11:29 | Updated: 8 November 2024, 21:27

A people smuggler who helped migrants cross the Channel on small boats and posted videos from successful customers has been jailed for 17 years for immigration offences.

Amanj Hasan Zada, an Iranian national living in Preston, advertised on social media and shared clips of people thanking him for his services.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) linked him to three separate crossings from France to the UK in November and December last year involving Kurdish migrants.

The groups had travelled through Eastern Europe into Germany, Belgium and France before making it to Britain.

However, the NCA believes the Iranian national was involved in many more similar operations.

Zada, 34, was found guilty of three counts of facilitating illegal immigration today, after a trial at Preston Crown Court, and will be sentenced this afternoon.

One video shows a group on a boat to Italy praising and clapping Zada, while another shows men who had crossed into Macedonia thanking him.

A third clip, found on YouTube, shows Zada singing along as musicians at a party laud him as "the best smuggler".

He smiles and laughs as they sing lyrics including: "All the smugglers have learned from him, Amanj is number one" and "Greeting to all smugglers, greeting to these two lions".

He throws cash and fires a gun in the air in celebration in the clip, thought to have been recorded in Iraq in 2021.

Zada was arrested in Preston in May after the NCA recorded conversations with other smugglers in which he discussed movements of migrants, locations and successful crossings.

Footage shows officers - some in riot gear - storming a terrace house and reading him his rights.

Analysis of his phone showed it was linked to a number of social media accounts used to post material, said the NCA.

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Zada had also had direct contact with some of the migrants who had illegally crossed on boats in 2023. Travel tickets for one of them were found on the phone.

NCA branch commander Martin Clarke said 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," he added.

"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."