Three ‘people smugglers’ arrested in Iraq in ground-breaking operation with UK officers

The arrests come after a deal allowing British law enforcement to work in Iraq

One of the three men is arrested after NCA officers joined security forces in Iraq’s Kurdish region targeting a UK-linked, people-smuggling network. Photo: NCA

Three suspected people smugglers have been arrested in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in a ground-breaking operation involving officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency.

It is the first time that the NCA has worked alongside the internal security agencies in Kurdistan, after the signing of an agreement with Iraq for its law enforcement officers to operate in the region.

All three detained are from Sulaymaniyah and are linked to the same network as Amanj Hassan Zada, a UK-based human trafficker who was sentenced to 17 years in jail in November.

They include a 38-year-old man accused of co-ordinating the movements of more than a dozen yachts transporting migrants into Greece and Italy. Each boat would carry 60 to 70 people, who would then be moved on to northern Europe or the UK.

A Hawala banker in his 40s, accused of processing financial transactions on behalf of Zada, and another man in his 30s, suspected of being a middleman gathering migrants for movement by Zada’s network, have also been held.

NCA branch commander Martin Clarke, who was part of the team of officers who flew out to the Kurdistan region to assist with the arrest operation, hailed the “fantastic co-operation from ... agencies in both Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, 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 100 per cent safe,” he said.

“The NCA have been able to follow the trail of this network, from Amanj Hasan Zada in his house in Preston [north-west England] right the way back to Sulaymaniyah, where we believe this gang were operating and recruiting. More than 70 people lost their lives attempting to cross the [English] Channel in small boats in 2024, so this trade must stop.”

The arrests come as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is visiting the UK, during which illegal migration and people smuggling will be discussed. A deal to deport illegal migrants from Iraq back to their homeland and further implement the agreement to tackle criminals running people-smuggling gangs is also on the agenda.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to “smash the gangs” of smugglers bringing migrants across the English Channel in small boats and to that end has set up a new Border Security Command "to take a counter-terrorism approach to people smuggling”.

Other measures include people smugglers and companies that supply them with boats being hit with what UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said would be a “full arsenal” of sanctions.

But 2024 ended with the number of migrants arriving up a fifth on the previous year and the issue of small boats remains politically charged in Britain.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who went to Iraq to sign the deal at the end of last year, said the arrests “will have a material effect on the criminal networks currently trafficking people across Europe”.

“When we said we would dismantle the gangs behind this evil trade and disrupt their supply chains, this was exactly what we meant," she added. "The criminal gangs operating through Iraq and the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq] do not respect borders or jurisdictions.”

Zada advertised his services on social media, sometimes using footage 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 Iraq’s Kurdish region in 2021, purported to show him at a party with musicians singing a song feting him as “the best smuggler”, saying “all the other smugglers have learnt from him”, while he threw cash at them and fired a gun in the air in celebration.