Six people smugglers jailed after carrying 'vulnerable' migrants through Portsmouth port in refrigerated lorry

Six people smugglers have been jailed for a total of 26 years after immigrants were ferried across the English Channel and into the country through Portsmouth International Port. The National Crime Agency (NCA) believe the alleged ringleader and another gang member are still at large – marking them as wanted. One of the smugglers was sentenced today.

NCA Branch Commander Richard Harrison said: ‘People smugglers risk lives, which is why targeting them is a priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved.‘The men convicted and sentenced put profit ahead of people. They were happy to put vulnerable migrants into the backs of lorries for long Channel sea crossings, and I’m delighted they are now behind bars.’

Goran Jalal, 37, of Brandfort Street, Bradford, is suspected of organising the missions. Hemin Ali Salih, 37, of Bryson Walk, Manchester, is wanted by the NCA after he was convicted of attempting to use Jalal’s underground network to smuggle a relative to Britain.

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NCA officers are issuing appeals for the whereabouts of Jalal and Salih. The remaining members of the gang were sentenced today.

Lorry driver Marinel Danut Palage, 31 – a Romanian national who lived in Zaragoza, Spain – used his truck to transport migrants from Normandy, France, to Portsmouth. Kamaran Kader, 44, of Basil Street, Bradford, and Pshtewan Ghafour, 37, of Camsell Court, Middlesbrough, worked with Jalal and Palage to organise the migrant crossings.

The gang were arrested in 2019 after surveillance officers followed them to a handover meeting on an industrial estate in Runcton, West Sussex. At least three migrants travelled in Palage’s lorry on a ferry from Caen, before being driven to other gang members in cars.

Kader and Jalal were arrested at a service station on the A3 as they drove away from the area. They previously handed over two migrants to other gang members. Jalal later absconded from jail.

Phone evidence showed that Ghafour travelled to Portsmouth on the same night, with his and Kader’s fingerprints being found on bags and envelopes seized from Palage’s lorry. Salih was found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration in his absence at Bournemouth Crown Court. He absconded before the trial started.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, with a warrant issued for his arrest. Palage and Ghafour were found guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration on March 14 following the four week trial.

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The pair were sentenced to nine and five years in prison respectively on April 13 for conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. Kader pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and was sentenced to four years and 6 months in jail on April 20.

Two other smugglers have also been sentenced today in the same trial. Jamal Walid Saied, 38, of Brightstone Walk, Manchester, and Mariwan Tofiq Mustafa, 33, of Ovenden Way, Halifax, were both found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration – being put behind bars for three years, and two years and six months, respectively.

Commander Harrison said the NCA will not rest until Jalal and Salih are in prison.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either Jalal or Salih should contact the NCA on 0370 4967622 or, alternatively, the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.