Three men have been jailed for people smuggling offences following a National Crime Agency investigation into a group organising small boat crossings from France to the UK.
Among the trio was Birmingham-based Pistiwan Jameel, aged 55, who came to the UK from Iraq in 2002.
Jameel acted as a ‘fixer’ for his clients, brokering spaces on boats with gangs operating in northern France and collecting payments afterwards. NCA investigators believe he was likely behind dozens of cross-Channel journeys.
NCA surveillance officers watched Jameel meet one such client, Albanian national Artan Halilaj, 39, in Perry Barr, Birmingham, on 1 September 2023.
A cash handover took place, and shortly afterwards, Jameel made a phone call in which he was heard saying that he had “my three passengers, all good to go, all okay”.
Artan Halilaj, who was living in Southall at the time, had arrived on a small boat from Belgium earlier that year. He claimed asylum but disappeared from the hotel where he was supposed to be staying as the Home Office processed his claim.
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 while bragging that he had made at least two million U.S. dollars for his criminal networks through his contacts.
Another conversation suggested that he was involved in moving a migrant from the Middle East to Turkey and expected to earn around ten thousand U.S. dollars from the enterprise.
NCA officers arrested Artan and Jameel on 23 October 2023, while Fiorentino was arrested the following day at the immigration detention centre where he was being held.
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.
Artan and Fiorentino Halilaj were both charged with one count of facilitating illegal immigration, while Jameel was charged with two counts.
Jameel and Fiorentino pleaded guilty, while Artan was convicted on 12 November 2024 following a week-long trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
On Monday, at the same court, Jameel was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison; Artan Halilaj was jailed for three-and-a-half years, while Fiorentino Halilaj got two-and-a-half years.
