Members of trafficking gang jailed

MEMBERS of an international people trafficking gang which smuggled illegal immigrants into the country hidden in secret compartments of adapted Vauxhall Vectra cars have been jailed.

- BY JOHN SCHEERHOUT AND ANDREW BARDSLEY

Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, 43, a Kurdish-born UK citizen from Stockport, led the gang which also manufactured and supplied fake EU passports to enable people mostly from Iraq and Vietnam to travel to the European Union before then travelling to Britain via Malaga, Dublin and Belfast, a court heard.

Hamadamin, a barber, was able to continue his operation even after he was stopped and charged by the courts in Spain.

Now he and seven other members of his gang have been sentenced for their part in the conspiracy which operated between June 2022 and February 2024.

The gang's activities started to unravel in June 2022 when another member of the gang was stopped in his Vectra by Border Force officials after he had landed in Dover and they discovered a woman hidden in a secret compartment built under the dashboard.

A vehicle examiner later inspected the Vectra and found an airbag, heating system and air con had been removed while the fuses, relay board and radio wiring had been moved, affecting the integrity of the 'crumple zone' of the car, the court was told.