Smuggler charged £1,500 per person to bring Vietnamese migrants to UK | UK | News

An Iraqi national has been involved in a ‘dangerous’ people smuggling ring that facilitated illegal immigrants entering the UK on small boats.

Ramal Briem referred to migrants as ‘chickens’ in messages in which he and an accomplice discussed illegal Channel crossings.

The 33-year-old, from Wolverhampton, conspired to smuggle migrants into Europe and then Britain for £1,500 per person.

He was “an organized criminal who had others working for him and obtaining significant financial gain”, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said: “He is a known trafficker.”

The father has now been warned that he faces serious prison time and could face deportation.

Briem essentially admitted to conspiring to aid illegal immigration, citing his belief that he was involved in the sale of cigarettes.

The basis was not accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service and as a result a hearing in the case was held on Monday 9 February.

The Crown’s allegation was that Briem was engaged ‘frequently and on a certain scale’ in transporting migrants from Vietnam on work visas to Eastern Europe and from there to the ‘jungles’ near Dunkirk and Calais in France.

From there they would travel on small boats to the UK, where the Home Office would put them up in immigration hotels.

Illegal immigrants, who finance the crossings themselves, will be ‘collected’ from hotels before ‘disappearing’ into Vietnamese society.

All immigrants involved are believed to be Vietnamese, and more than 1,000 names were discovered in a notebook seized by police.

The court was told how French police identified a person in the UK whom they wanted to place under a European arrest warrant.

The man is alleged to be the head of an organized crime group operating across Europe and was involved in a ‘very significant business enterprise’ smuggling Vietnamese nationals to the UK.

His partner, who lives in Croydon, is said to have provided phones and SIM cards to immigrants.

The wanted man was arrested in April 2024, police seized his devices and identified Briem from messages between the two.

Briem, of Crawford Road, Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, was later arrested by the National Crime Agency.

In one message, the person known to Briem as ‘Kevin’ asked the defendant: “Are you collecting chickens from Romania?”

Briem, who used a Vietnamese name during the contact, replied: “Tell me, brother, I will come to help you whenever you want.”

Ms Orchard said the defendant stated that he would charge ‘£1,500 per chicken to bring the chickens into the UK’.

‘Kevin’ told Briem that he currently had ‘over 30 chickens in Dunkirk’ and that a deal already existed with another human trafficker.

But Ms Orchard told the court he had said he would give Briem ‘all his traditions’ in the future.

The defendant was then asked if he would offer a ‘free chicken’ as part of the deal. Briem responded, “Okay, if you give me 20 chickens, two are free,” and ‘Kevin’ agreed to ‘send him all the chickens he has.’

In subsequent messages, ‘Kevin’ informed Briem that he had ‘two chickens in Romania’ and ‘three chickens in Hungary’, and that the defendant was ‘responsible for collecting all five chickens’.

‘Kevin’ also explained to Briem details of flights for immigrants arriving in Romania via Qatar.

Ms. Orchard explained that Briem responded harshly, saying he would send someone to pick them up.

Another message claimed that ‘Kevin’ provided money to Briem for the illegal immigration operation.

According to the court, correspondence between the two revealed that they both had employees working for them.

It is thought that the person nicknamed ‘Kevin’ is awaiting extradition to France.

The court heard how in March 2024 Briem contacted a French phone number.

This number was later seen to be followed on its way to the UK in a Dutch registered truck.

When the truck stopped in Staffordshire, the male migrants ran out of the back of the truck.

Briem gave evidence, telling the court that she was residing in Wolverhampton with her partner and children at the time.

Speaking through a Kurdish Sorani translator, he stated that he “wanted to help Kevin.”

But he claimed he was not bringing anyone to the UK and was ‘helping people who were already here’.

He admitted accepting the charge because he “wanted to act as a facilitator” and acknowledged that the “chickens” were people.

Briem maintained his stance that the money he received from ‘Kevin’ in Croydon was related to the sale of cigarettes.

But Judge Andrew Lockhart KC rejected Briem’s ​​version of events, concluding that Briem was at the ‘heart’ of the operation and acted as a ‘facilitator’ in transporting migrants ‘across the continent’.

It determined that Briem, who had no previous criminal record, ’employed others’ and described him as a ‘serious organized criminal’.

The judge said: “He hasn’t told one iota of truth here today.

“He has to wait a fairly long sentence, which means he will undoubtedly be deported, but that will be a matter for the Home Office, not me.”

Briem remains in custody and will be sentenced on March 26.

Judge Lockhart informed him: “I have findings that you are a serious organized criminal, making large sums of money from dangerous immigration crimes that put people’s lives at risk every day.

“You have committed a very, very serious crime and for which you will receive a significant prison sentence which, in my opinion, will be measured for many years to come.”