High-level ‘smuggler who shipped 1000s of migrants in boats’ arrested | UK | News
A man suspected of smuggling thousands of illegal immigrants into the UK on small boats has been arrested. A BBC investigation found Kardo Jaf, operating under the pseudonym Kardo Ranya, is seen as the suspected man behind the transport of thousands of migrants hoping to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel on dangerous ships.
Jaf was reportedly arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan on suspicion of human trafficking offences. According to BBC research, a 28-year-old Iraqi Kurd carried out an operation using various aliases.
Kurdish MP Dr. “This is a strong network that all goes back to Ranya (Jaf),” Muthana Nader told the BBC.
He added that he believed 70% of illegal immigration into the UK was controlled from the town.
A suspected people trafficker was arrested on May 13, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Tuesday. The agency did not name Jaf. NCA General Operations Director Rob Jones said over the weekend that the NCA was combating smugglers operating in Iraq.
He said: “The NCA’s role is to target the organized gangs behind people smuggling and we use the full range of our law enforcement tactics to disrupt and dismantle networks wherever they operate, preventing harm to those they exploit for profit, protecting lives and the UK’s border security.
“Tackling organized migration crime remains a top priority for the NCA and we are dedicating more resources than ever to targeting the criminal networks behind it.
“We are taking the fight against gangs outside Europe to regions such as Iraq and Libya, and targeting criminal networks operating in places where they think they are untouchable.”
