Three men found guilty after people smuggling probe sparked by woman found in car glove box

19 January 2025, 12:20 | Updated: 19 January 2025, 15:33

Three men have been found guilty following a sting into a UK-based people smuggling gang - launched after a woman was found crammed inside a car glove box.

Redar Curtis, 30, Jozef Kadet, 25, and Khales Akram Jabar, 44, were each found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court this week.

The trio were arrested after a Home Office investigation and were found to have been part of an organised smuggling network hiding people in customised vehicles between 2022 and 2024.

Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said the case showed "the ruthless tactics of criminal gangs who smuggle people through Europe and into the UK".

"They have no regard for human life and exploit vulnerable individuals solely for profit, putting them in incredibly dangerous situations," she added.

The probe began after a Vietnamese woman was found hiding in a cramped compartment concealed behind the dashboard of a vehicle returning from France in June 2022.

Jozef Balog, who was driving the vehicle, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison last January after admitting a charge of assisting unlawful immigration.

A month after the first smuggling attempt was caught, Curtis's wife Emily Etherington was stopped by Border Force officers after they found she was hiding another woman in the dashboard of her vehicle - prompting a Home Office investigation into the gang.

It found the ring created false identity documents believed to have been made using a Greek forgery factory, and resulted in the seizure of counterfeit documents, more than 20,000 illicit cigarettes and £6,000 in cash.

Paul Moran, chief immigration officer at Home Office Immigration Enforcement, said the probe "stretched across Europe and took over two years of hard work by our criminal and financial investigation teams in Dover and Manchester".

He added: "This group put profit ahead of people's safety, facilitating them through dangerous methods in vehicles and by air, showing no concern for the wellbeing of those they smuggled."

Etherington, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK. She is one of five members of the ring to admit to charges relating to people smuggling.

Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, 43, admitted four counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK, one count of conspiracy to make an article for use in a fraud and one count of possession of an identity document with improper intention.

His brother Muhamad Jamal Hamadamin, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and one count of possessing an identity document with improper intention.

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Yassen Jalal Mohammed, 43, admitted three counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK, and Dlawar Omar, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of the same charge.

Curtis, Kadet, Jabar and the five members who pleaded guilty will next appear in court on 29 January to hear a sentencing date.

(c) Sky News 2025: Three men found guilty after people smuggling probe sparked by woman found in car glove box