A man from Manchester accused of being part of a people smuggling gang is being hunted. Six men, including one from Longsight, have been jailed for a total of 26 years for transporting migrants through Portsmouth port and into the UK in the back of a refrigerated lorry.
However, the National Crime Agency say the alleged ringleader of the group and his accomplice remain at large.
Goran Jalal, aged 37 and from Bradford, is suspected of organising crossings, while Hemin Ali Salih, aged 37 and from Gorton, is wanted after being convicted of attempting to use Jalal’s criminal network to smuggle a relative to Britain.
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Central to the plot was Romanian lorry driver Marinel Danut Palage, aged 31, who carried out migrant runs for the network in his truck, using crossings from Normandy into Portsmouth.
Kamaran Kader, 44, and Pshtewan Ghafour, 37 acted alongside Jalal and worked with Palage to organise crossings. The gang were arrested in March 2019 after surveillance officers followed them to a 'handover meeting' on an industrial estate in Runcton in West Sussex.
According to the NCA, at least three migrants travelled in Palage’s lorry on a ferry from Caen in France, before being collected by cars driven by other gang members.
In one of the cars was Kader and Jalal, who were arrested at a service station on th A3 after earlier handing over two migrants to gang members. Jalal later absconded whilst on bail and a warrant has now been issued for his arrest.
Ghafour was found to have travelled down to Portsmouth the same night and his fingerprints and those of Kader were found on bags and envelopes of cash found by officers in Palage's lorry.
Following a four-week trial at Bournemouth Crown Court, Palage, who is Romanian and said to have been residing in Zaragoza, Spain, and Ghafour, of Camsell Court, Middlesbrough, were found guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration on Tuesday, March 14.
They were sentenced to nine and five years in prison respectively on April 13.
As part of the same trial Jamal Walid Saied, 38, of Brightstone Walk, Longsight, Mariwan Tofiq Mustafa, 33, of Ovenden Way, Halifax and Salih were all found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration.
They were today handed sentences of three years, two-and-a-half-years, and two years respectively.
Salih, of Bryson Walk, Gorton, absconded before the start of the trial and was convicted in his absence of facilitating illegal immigration in his absence. He was today, Monday, May 10, sentenced, again in his absence, to two years in prison. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Kader, of Basil Street, Bradford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years on 20 April at the same court.
The NCA are now appealing for information regarding the whereabouts of Jalal and Salih. 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.
“But Goran Jalal and Hemin Ali Salih both remain at large. Warrants have been issued for their arrests, and we will not rest until they are in custody.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either Jalal or Salih should is asked to call the NCA on 0370 4967622 or, alternatively, the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
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