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Three men linked to a people smuggling network run from a Fishwick property have been arrested in a major cross-border operation.
UK officers from the National Crime Agency joined the Kurdistan Region Security Council and Kurdistan Region Security Agency in a ground-breaking operation to break up the network which moved migrants from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) into the UK and Europe.
The three men detained were linked to the same network as Amanj Hassan Zada, a Preston-based facilitator who was convicted and jailed for 17 years in November 2024 following an NCA investigation.
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Zada, who lived in Stefano Road, Fishwick, close to New Hall Lane, at the time of his arrest and was known by those he smuggled as Amanj Zaman, advertised his services on social media, sometimes using videos of those he had successfully smuggled thanking him for his help. One such video showed a group of men on a boat to Italy praising him.
Another video, posted on YouTube and thought to have been recorded in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 2021, showed him at a party with musicians singing a song in Kurdish feting him as “the best smuggler”, saying “all the other smugglers have learned from him”, while he threw cash at them and fired a gun in the air in celebration.
One of those arrested, a 38-year-old male from Sulaymaniyah, is accused of working with the network to co-ordinate the movements of more than a dozen yachts transporting migrants into Greece or Italy. Each boat would contain 60 or 70 people, who would then be moved on to northern Europe or the UK.
A Hawala banker, aged in his 40s and also from Sulaymaniyah, who is accused of processing financial transactions on behalf of Zada, has also been detained along with another man in his 30s from Sulaymaniyah who is accused of being a middle-man gathering migrants for movement by Zada’s network.
The arrests in the KRI took place between Wednesday 8th and Sunday 12th January, with NCA officers deploying to the region from the UK to assist. All three remain in custody, and face prosecution for human trafficking offences by the KRI authorities.
NCA Director General of Operations Rob Jones said: “This is the next significant step in taking on the people smuggling gangs who dominate the deadly cross-Channel small boat trade, many of whom operate from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“Previously they thought they were untouchable, but thanks to our co-operation with the KRI authorities, we have demonstrated that this is no longer the case and they will be held to account.
“Our reach is global, and we are determined to target, disrupt and dismantle these networks no matter where they operate.”
The operation is the first time the NCA has worked with Asayish (security) agencies in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah to target high-ranking people smugglers who are risking migrants’ lives in trying to transport them across Europe and into small boats to the UK.
Zada himself was jailed in the UK for organising at least three Channel crossings, though investigators believe he was behind the movement of many more, advertising his services on social media and then posting clips of those he had successfully smuggled.
Branch Commander Martin Clarke was part of the team of NCA officers who flew out to Kurdistan Region of Iraq to assist with the arrest operation. He 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 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, and I’d like to thank them for that.
“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 one hundred percent safe.
“More than 70 people lost their lives attempting to cross the Channel in small boats in 2024, so this trade must stop.”
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