Two people smugglers who ran their operation using a UK car wash as cover have each been jailed for 19 years.
Dilshad Shamo, 43, and Ali Khdir, 42, admitted being part of a smuggling ring that got thousands of migrants from Iraq, Iran and Syria into Europe. Some recorded their journeys and gave TripAdvisor-style ratings as feedback. Many of them went on to use small boats to cross the Channel to the UK, where they claimed asylum.
Migrants were offered three tiers of service – the simplest being travelling on foot or using a vehicle. The next level was by cargo ship or yacht, while the top tier was travelling by plane.
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) believes the pair smuggled more than 400 people in six months as they led double lives behind the Fast Track Car Wash in the Welsh town of Caerphilly.
Cardiff Crown Court heard it was not possible to calculate the minimum turnover for all the people trafficked by Shamo and Khdir, but it would be £1,872,231.11 ($2.5 million) for 384 migrants.
"Our long-running investigation showed Khdir and Shamo were working around the clock to orchestrate the movement of migrants across Europe," NCA branch commander Derek Evans said. "We believe they smuggled more than 400 people in a period of just six months.
"While on the surface they portrayed themselves as successful businessmen running a car wash from Caerphilly, they were actually leading an entirely separate life as part of a criminal network."
Shamo, an Iraqi Kurd, and Khdir, a Kurd from Iran, were part of a larger organised crime group that moved migrants from the Middle East through Belarus, Moldova and Bosnia and on to Italy, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Germany and France. Money was lodged with Hawala bankers based in Iraq and Turkey who would arrange and obtain funds from migrants travelling on particular routes.
An investigation by The National revealed a money exchange in the town of Ranya, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, was used to transfer funds between people smugglers and migrants. The town is also home to a people smuggling kingpin responsible for moving migrants from northern France to the UK in small boats.
Shamo and Khdir used WhatsApp to communicate with people smugglers across Europe. Once a deposit was obtained, they would receive an "OK" for migrants to be moved on a specified route or time frame.
But the pair were under surveillance from the NCA and were arrested in April 2023. They were charged with facilitating migrants through Europe. They initially denied the charges and went on trial in November 2024, but they later pleaded guilty.
In a special court hearing, Shamo and Khdir attempted to minimise their role in the smuggling operation in a bid to have their sentences reduced. Prosecutors challenged that effort and a judge rejected their claims.
During their trial, the court was told the pair used different routes to smuggle people into Europe known as "the Turkey route", "the visa route", "the lorry route" or "the Bosnian route". The "Turkey route" involved migrants from Iran, Iraq or Syria legally crossing into Turkey before illegally travelling own by ship to Italy.
The "visa" method would see migrants obtain legal documents to enter countries such as Belarus and Moldova, to then be trafficked into Romania, Germany or Austria.
The "lorry route" would see migrants moved by lorry, before travelling by sea or road to Italy and Germany or "onwards to other countries such as France". The "Bosnian route" involved using cars or taxis to carry people to Croatia or Slovenia, then on to Italy.
