Snaring people smuggler gang kingpins living in our streets...

HASAN Zada had his own marketing team and logistics experts, and with connections across Europe he could run his business from home with little more than a phone and a wifi connection.

- MICHAEL KNOWLES

You might be forgiven for thinking the Iraqi Kurd was heading up a legitimate enterprise from his base in Preston, Lancs, after moving to the UK.

In fact he was one of Europe's biggest people smugglers.

Known by the alias of Amanj Zaman, and an illegal immigrant himself, he helped get thousands into Europe and declared himself "the best smuggler", with music videos celebrating his work.

But he was eventually snared and jailed for 17 years after a huge undercover probe which involved clandestine listening devices, tailings and surveillance in an area of Preston known for its drug dealing and prostitution.

Investigators noted how Zada rarely left his house, running his network through his phone.

Alistair Mullen, who led the National Crime Agency's investigation into Zada, said: "In the Kurdish smuggling community, in my opinion, he was at the very, very top. There's a term the Kurds use called 'Kak', which is a sign of respect, where we would say 'Sir'.

"If you think about a peoplesmuggling, organised immigration crime group, they require a number of people to fulfil a role.

"While you have the head who co-ordinates everything, you also need people to pilot the boats, you need the hawalas to move the money, you need people on the ground who are going to help migrants get from point A to point B. In this case there was the social media element so they needed somebody to run that." Mr Mullen said Zada's gang was "essentially a business and you had different departments".

He added: "The advertising department handled the promotion on Facebook and TikTok, and logistics got people from the Kurdish region of Iraq across the border to Turkey to be put in a safe house. Transport was organised to the relevant port from where the boats would leave.