A major people smuggler responsible for transporting hundreds of illegal migrants into the UK via small boats and HGVs has been jailed, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Ali Omar Khan was on Wednesday sentenced to eight years and seven months in prison at Maidstone Crown Court.
Officers identified him after a yacht ran aground in Rye, east Sussex, and CCTV showed people jumping from the vessel and swimming to shore while others travelled in a dinghy before fleeing across land, the agency said. Some 14 individuals from Iran, Iraq and Albania, including two children, were then detained within two hours by Border Force officers. According to the NCA, its investigation revealed Karim was in control of a network of people smugglers across the Middle East and northern Europe.
Evidence on the 47-year-old’s phone suggested people who were trafficked paid between £800 and £1,000 to get into the EU before paying a larger amount to travel onwards from France to the UK, the agency said.
Messages revealed Karim had discussed charging migrants £1,650 each for a crossing in an HGV in November 2022.
A lorry was stopped in Calais on November 17, 2022, and two Iraqi nationals were found hidden inside the trailer.
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Further evidence showed Karim, of Alderman Gardens in Portsmouth, had also been involved in organising fake visas so that people could travel by plane, the NCA said.
He was arrested in Portsmouth in March 2024 and pleaded guilty to people smuggling offences in June that year.
NCA branch commander Rachel Bramley said: “Karim was a key member of an organised crime group involved in transporting people by HGV, small boat, yachts and planes.
“He was high up in the chain of command, making decisions on crossing days, routes and prices.
“This was a long-running NCA investigation working alongside partners in the UK and overseas.
“Tackling organised immigration crime is a top priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks behind it, wherever they operate.”
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