People smugglers jailed for orchestrating dangerous Channel crossings

Ramal Briem, an Iraqi asylum seeker, has been jailed for more than 10 years for running an international people smuggling operation from his home in Wolverhampton, according to reports. He is understood to have helped hundreds of migrants make illegal small boat crossings to the UK. Two Vietnamese nationals, Hoang My Tra Nguyen and Hop Cahn Nguyen, have also been jailed for advertising small boat people smuggling services on Facebook, with Hop Cahn Nguyen sentenced to 12 years in prison and Hoang My Tra Nguyen to 10 years and six months.

Sarwar Omar, an Iraqi people smuggler, orchestrated a migrant boat crossing operation targeting Britain from inside a French prison cell, according to multiple reports. Omar was serving a 14-year sentence for a violent offence involving weapons that led to someone's death. An ex-Immigration Minister, Kevin Foster, has criticized French authorities over a violent criminal orchestrating a people-smuggling network from inside a French prison cell.

Ramal Briem and another gang member, known as 'Kevin', discussed the movement of migrants, referred to as 'chickens', in northern France. 'Kevin' was one of four crime group members arrested by the National Crime Agency in April 2024 and is undergoing extradition proceedings as he is wanted in France. The other three members arrested in April 2024 were charged in the UK.

Ramal Briem helped arrange the transportation of six migrants to Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in March 2024. Staffordshire Police only managed to arrest one illegal arrival from the Staffordshire incident as the rest fled. Investigations showed Briem's phone contacted a French number that was the same number that attempted to contact Briem when the lorry involved in the Staffordshire incident was intercepted.

Briem admitted coming to the UK illegally by small boat in late 2020, after which he claimed asylum. He said he met 'Kevin', who showed interest in how he came to the UK as he wanted to bring relatives over from Germany. Briem admitted visiting addresses in Croydon and Birmingham to collect large sums of cash which he later gave to an unknown man in a car. He claims to have collected £16,000 from 'Kevin' at an address in Croydon, which he was told related to cigarettes, and delivered it to another person, being paid £300 and £350 in return. The prosecution case was that the money collected by Briem related to his people smuggling activities and not cigarettes.

Hoang My Tra Nguyen and Hop Cahn Nguyen advertised small-boat crossings from France to the UK, targeting the Vietnamese community. Hoang My Tra Nguyen and Hop Cahn Nguyen arrived in the UK by small boats in January and July 2023. They were arrested by National Crime Agency officers in April 2024 and admitted assisting unlawful immigration at Croydon Crown Court in August 2024.

Hoang and Hop controlled Facebook accounts, together with another male awaiting extradition to France, that included video clips of individuals travelling on a small boat and provided UK mobile numbers to arrange travel. Hoang and Hop would arrange crossings for migrants and helped them to abscond by putting them in touch with a third party once their claims were processed. In February 2024, Hop was stopped by British Transport Police officers at Euston station, attempting to travel to Birmingham with migrants who had recently crossed the Channel via small boat. Following their arrests in April 2024, officers seized numerous mobile phones, sim cards and ledgers detailing names, costs and details of routes.