People smuggler who transported hundreds of illegal migrants to UK jailed

A prolific people smuggler who transported hundreds of illegal migrants to the UK has been jailed, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Ali Omar Karim, 47, who smuggled people via small boats and HGVs, was jailed for eight years and seven months on Wednesday at Maidstone Crown Court. Officers identified him after a yacht ran aground in Rye, East Sussex.

CCTV showed people jumping from the vessel and swimming to shore while others travelled in a dinghy before making their way across land, the agency said. Some 14 individuals from Albania, Iran and Iraq, including two children, were then detained within two hours by Border Force officers.

The NCA said its investigation found Karim was in control of a network of people smugglers across the Middle East and northern Europe. Examination of his phone also showed he had been involved in the movement of people from Serbia, Turkey, Kosovo, Bosnia and other nations through border crossings in Romania and Hungary via HGV.

Read more from Sky News:Meet the kids who want a social media banTemperatures to drop after hottest day of year Further evidence from Karim's phone also suggested those who were trafficked paid between £800 and £1,000 to get into the EU before handing over a larger amount to travel onwards from France to the UK, according to the agency. Messages revealed Karim had discussed charging migrants £1,650 each for an HGV crossing in November 2022.

A lorry was stopped in Calais on 17 November 2022, and two Iraqi nationals were found hidden in the trailer. In another incident, he discussed a small boat crossing where migrants were drinking alcohol, which had led to complaints.

Messages also referred to several dinghies, indicating multiple crossings and the scale of the operation, the NCA said. Karim, from Portsmouth, had also been involved in organising fake visas so people could take flights, the NCA said.

He was arrested in Portsmouth in March 2024 and pleaded guilty to people smuggling offences in June that year. NCA branch commander Rachel Bramley said: "This was a long-running NCA investigation working alongside partners in the UK and overseas.

"Tackling organised immigration crime is a top priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks behind it, wherever they operate.".