UK investigators have been involved in the arrest of suspected human traffickers in Iraq for the first time.
Staff from the National Crime Agency (NCA) briefed local security officers before they swooped on three men suspected of trafficking up to 1,000 migrants from the Kurdish Region of Iraq.
The suspects are thought to be linked to Britain-based people smuggler Amanj Hassan Zada, from Preston, Lancashire, who was jailed in November for 17 years.
Rob Jones, the NCA’s director-general of operations, said: “It’s critically important to us because it comes as a result of an operation in the UK, where we arrested Zada.
“That man blatantly advertised crossings in the English Channel, which are extremely dangerous.”
The agency followed a “trail of evidence… that individual led us all the way to Iraq,” he said.
“Now it’s vitally important, as we’ve said repeatedly, that we deal with those overseas and extend our reach to tackle them,” Mr Jones said. “So this is global organised crime and we have shown that wherever you are, we can reach out and with partners deal with you.”
The three suspects, who were held over the past few days, are expected to be charged and put on trial in the KRI, an autonomous area of Northern Iraq where it’s believed the gang was operating from.
One of those arrested is accused of being a moneyman, who used the informal Hawala banking system, an anonymous and untrackable money-transfer method popular in Islamic countries.
Another suspect, aged 38, is accused of co-ordinating the movements of a dozen yachts to transport migrants to Greece or Italy on the first part of a journey that eventually took them, in far more risky boats, to northern Europe or the UK.
The third suspect is accused of organising migrants into groups ready to travel.
Zada advertised his gang’s services on social media, sometimes using videos of those he had smuggled as testimonials.
In one video, he was filmed firing a gun in the air at a party and being praised in a Kurdish song as “the best smuggler”.
The NCA’s branch commander Martin Clarke, who was part of the team who flew to the KRI to help with the arrest operation, said: “The NCA have been able to follow the trail of this network, from Amanj Hasan Zada in his house in Preston right the way back to the streets of Sulaymaniyah where we believe this gang were operating and recruiting.
“We have had fantastic co-operation from Asayish agencies in both Erbil and Sulaymaniyah as part of this investigation.
“Like us, they recognise that these gangs are risking the lives of those they transport, feeding them lies via their social media channels, and claiming journeys are 100% safe.”
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As it attempts to stem the flow of migrants risking their lives by trying to reach the UK, the government wants the NCA and other agencies to attack and dismantle criminal groups who cash in on the desperate travellers, by charging them huge sums and squeezing them into flimsy small boats.
More than 30,000 people crossed the channel in small boats from northern Europe last year. The government says it has returned thousands of illegal migrants since it was elected in July.
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The Labour government and its Conservative predecessor boosted NCA funding to increase its operations against human traffickers.
Last year, the agency arrested 227 suspects and currently has 70 investigations into people smuggling gangs.
