Secret photo shows moment people smuggler meets Southall man to close the deal on small boats crossing

This is the moment a people smuggler closed the deal on a small boats crossing, unaware he was being spied on by the UK's answer to the FBI. A National Crime Agency investigation has led to the conviction of three men for smuggling offences, including British national Pistiwan Jameel, 54, who acted as a fixer for clients by brokering deals with smuggling gangs in France.

NCA surveillance officers watched Jameel, who came to the UK from Iraq in 2002, meeting Albanian national Artan Halilaj, 39, in Birmingham on September 1 last year. Halilaj, living in Southall, West London, at the time, exchanged cash with Jameel, who then made a phone call to say 'my three passengers, all good to go, all okay'.

Halilaj had arrived on a small boat from Belgium earlier that year, claimed asylum but then disappeared from a Home Office hotel while his claim was being processed. He was organising passage for his relative Fiorentino Halilaj, 25, who crossed the Channel in a small boat the next day on September 2.

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Halilaj's phone was taken by the immigration authorities and handed to the NCA who found a contact for Jameel. NCA officers were then able to record Jameel's conversations with criminals where he referred to migrants as 'pigeons' or 'sticks'. The messages included complaints that competition in the smuggling market was driving down prices, and the boast that he had made at least $2m through his contacts. Another chat suggested he would be made £10,000 for smuggling a migrant to Turkey from the Middle East.

Halilaj and Jameel were arrested by NCA officers on October 23 2023, while Fiorentino was arrested the following day at an immigration detention centre. Jameel’s phone was found to contain information and messages relating to up to 50 people who had entered the UK illegally on small boats during 2022 and 2023, including images taken on boats in the Channel.

Artan and Fiorentino Halilaj were both charged with one count of facilitating illegal immigration, while Jameel was charged with two counts. Jameel and Fiorentino both pleaded guilty, while Artan denied involvement. On Tuesday (November 12) he was found guilty following a week-long trial at Birmingham Crown Court. All three will be sentenced on December 3.

NCA Branch Operations Manager Paul Jones said: “It is clear from the evidence we were able to gather over the course of our investigation that Pistiwan Jameel was a prolific UK-based broker for people smuggling gangs in France.

“The true number of crossings that Jameel facilitated will never be known but the evidence indicates that he has been assisting in the movement of migrants illegally into the UK for a considerable amount of time.

“People smugglers like him don’t care about the safety and security of those they transport, and he was quite happy to put people in life-threatening situations on the sea in flimsy dinghies just so he could make money.

“This is why tackling the gangs involved in organised immigration crime remains a priority for the NCA, and we will do all we can to disrupt and dismantle them.”

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