'Trusted' international people smuggler was cleaner on West Midlands Railways

A people smuggler who bragged of bringing people into the UK illegally for 15 years operated in plain sight as a cleaner on a major British railway line, a court heard.

Pistiwan Jameel, 55, (above left) acted as a broker for smuggling gangs in France and boasted of being a "trusted" fixer who made at least two million US dollars (£1.57m) for his criminal networks through his contacts, throughout his illicit sideline.

To the wider public, Jameel, was a hardworking breadwinner and father of two children aged ten and 17, who earnt his money legitimately as a cleaner of the West Midlands Railway for 20 years after arriving into the country from Iraq in 2002, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

He had no signs of extravagant wealth and in 2009 was rewarded by being naturalised as a British citizen.

But, the court heard that Rameel, of Great Barr, Birmingham, was secretly an underworld fixer for international people smuggling networks bringing illegal immigrants in the country from France.

During the period of offending he was charged with between January 1 2022 and October 24 2023, his focus had turned to helping Albanians make deadly crossings of the Channel in small boats.

It was during the period that Albanian illegal arrivals sourced, pushing them to the top of the asylum claim tables.

Jailed alongside Jammel, was Albanian Artan Halilaj, 40, (above middle) who paid him to help arrange the illegal entry via the Channel of brother-in-law Fiorentino Halilaj, 26 (above right).

The sentencing hearing exposed details of the disarray of the immigration service at the time as it was being bombarded by new asylum claims from Albanian arrivals.

The court heard that, despite Artan Halilaj having a string of convictions in France for dishonesty and immigration offences, he was not placed into immigration detention after he was apprehended in the UK and slipped into the black-market economy after seven days.

The court heard he had flown from Tirana, Albania's capital, to Brussels, before a crossing of the Channel with two other Albanian men was arranged.

On March 15 2022 he was picked up in a lifeboat and brought to Harwich before making an immediate claim for asylum.

Early checks would have shown his convictions in France between 2005 to 2010 for 'serious dishonesty, escaping from lawful custody and being in France unlawfully

But, instead, Halilaj was taken to taxpayer-funded emergency hotel accommodation in West Sussex, before absconding after a week.

It took the Home Office three months to record him as an absconder, the court heard.

In August 2022, he was encountered by Met Police officers and was found to have an address in Southall, West London.

His details were passed to the immigration service, but it was not until February 2023 that he was placed under immigration bail, with conditions to report regularly, and invited to attend an asylum interview.

Prosecuting, John Hallissey, said he did not report or attend the interview and remained at large, allowing him to arrange the illegal entry of his brother-in-law, by small boat across the Channel, after paying Jameel.

Jameel would arrange 'seats' on boats through contacts with people smuggling gangs based in France, then collect payments for his clients in the UK.

He was suspected by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of being behind dozens of cross-Channel small boat crossings, so a listening device was placed in his car.

Over a series of calls, he was heard to moan that competition in the evil trade was driving his prices down.

NCA surveillance officers watched as Jameel met Artan Halilaj in Birmingham on September 1 2023.

A handover of cash took place, and shortly afterwards Jameel made a phone call in which he was heard to say that he had ‘my three passengers, all good to go, all okay’.

Fiorentino arrived in the UK after crossing on a small boat on September 3 2023.

His phone was taken into the possession of the immigration authorities, but it was later handed to the NCA and was found to contain a contact for Jameel.

There was also a voice note in which Fiorentino said he hoped to emulate his brother-in-law by 'remaining in the UK and finding work with or without permission'.

During recorded phone calls Jameel was heard to say he had 'been bringing people to the UK from France for 15 years and was well known and trusted.'

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’.

He also said he was able to bring in '20 Kurds at a time' at a cost of £1,700 per head.

In another call he said he had up to 29 people ready to travel.

When he was arrested, an NCA investigator found photographs of 40 passports on his phone and they linked these to 30 people who actually entered the country on small boats between March and November 2022.

In another conversation he claimed to have made at least two million US dollars for his associates on the back of his contacts.

Another conversation suggested that was expecting to earn around £7,800 by helping to move a migrant from the Middle East to Turkey.

Artan and Jameel were arrested by NCA officers last October, and Fiorentino was arrested at an immigration centre the following day.

Artan and Fiorentino Halilaj were both charged with one count of facilitating illegal immigration, while Jameel was charged with two counts.

Jameel initially denied the offences, but pleaded guilty ahead of trial. Today he received four years and ten months in prison.

Fiorentino pleaded guilty, while Artan denied involvement, and was found guilty at trial.

He was jailed for three and a half years today.

Fiorentino, of no fixed address, was jailed for two and a half years.

Sentencing, Judge Heidi Kubic, said at the time of the crossings in question, Border Force reported there had been an average of one death a month at least as a result.

She said: 'You were the facilitator, the broker, the middle manager, the UK contact. You were involved in a commercial operation of some scale and for profit.

'You were providing this service for strangers. Inevitably the method of transport, small boats across the channel, involved a risk to life or serious injury over that period of time.

'It was obviously a risk to life or to cause serious injury, by the method of illegal entry (which also) undermines the need to maintain control of our borders. Not only for matters of risk, so that we know who is here and whether they pose a risk to UK citizens, but also to not feed the black-market economy.'

James Bloomer, representing Jameel, argued much of his recorded claims had been bragging not true and there was no evidence that he had lived an extravagant lifestyle, while arguing that he had become very ill in jail.

Rebecca Coleman, for Artan, argued that he was only involved in one crossing of a relative and played a minor role.

Joe Keatring, representing Fiorentino, said he had volunteered to be returned to Albania and has spent his time in jail studying and helping other prisoners and would never offend again.

Mr Hallissey said it would be down to the Home Office if the two Albanians were deported once they have finished their sentences.

NCA Branch Commander Kevin Broadhead said: “The scale of Pistiwan Jameel’s offending was likely far wider than just the crossings he was charged over. The information we uncovered during our investigation suggests he was prolific, and was operating over a considerable amount of time.

“The way in which he talked about the people he was smuggling and the profits he was making demonstrated he was only in it for the money. He was quite happy to risk other people’s lives in flimsy boats at sea as long as he got paid.

“Targeting smugglers like him is a priority for the NCA, and we will do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the organised criminal networks involved.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

"It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases.

"Where an individual does not have a reporting condition or has failed to comply with that reporting condition, Immigration "Enforcement’s case progression teams may task the case to an enforcement team to conduct an enforcement visit. Cases that are barrier free and include a current address are likely to be accepted.

"The case will flow into the accepted pool of cases and will be scheduled for a visit after intelligence and officer safety checks are completed and in line with other priorities (such as illegal working commitments) and frontline capacity more generally."