Photo credit: ITVX
The game was up for a couple of men, Dilshad Shamo and Ali Khdir, who were facilitating the illegal entry of migrants from outside the EU.
WalesOnline reports that both men ran their operation from a car wash on the side of a busy Caerphilly road, and it was difficult to comprehend that the place was the centre of an international people trafficking operation.
Shamo and Khdir were part of a larger organized crime group. They were facilitating the movement of migrants from Iraq, Iran, and Syria through Belarus, Moldova and Bosnia and ending in Italy, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Germany and France.
Migrants were offered three types of service – the simplest being on foot via HGV or smaller vehicle, the next by cargo ships or yachts, and the top tier by providing plane travel.
Money was lodged with Hawala bankers based in Iraq and Istanbul, who would arrange and obtain funds from migrants travelling on particular routes. And the pair ran that operation from Fast Track Hand Car Wash on Pongtygwindy Road.
Evidence was gathered by the UK’s leading law enforcers, the National Crime Agency, which carried out a lengthy investigation into the activities of Shamo and Khdir. Opening the trial before a jury last year, prosecutor Sarah Gaunt said: “It is the prosecution’s case thedefendants were conducting a people smuggling operation from Caerphilly – primarily the Fast Track Hand Car Wash situated in Pontygwindy Road.”
Several mobile phones and SIM cards were seized from the defendants. The devices were examined and significant volumes of evidence, including messages and other online communications, were scrutinized.
Video footage emerged showing migrants being smuggled into Europe by lorry and boat. One migrant could be seen lying in the back of a lorry, while others are visible on the side of a speedboat.
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 by a specified route or timeframe.
Other messages and social media apps were used to advertise their routes and services with videos of families travelling via plane, on boats, or in the back of HGVs.
Contact had been made with individuals from Iraq, Turkey, and across Europe. Among the material seized during the investigation were self-recorded videos captured by migrants while being smuggled across borders. One such clip shows a man filming his feet as he travels concealed in the back of a lorry.
He could be heard saying: “Today is December 17, 2022. With the help of Good and Kak Choman we made a deal by lorry route. I’m inside the lorry – that is his job. We made a deal, and we are on the move.” The man then turns the camera to reveal several blankets draped over pallets.
Both Shamo and Khdir were placed under police surveillance, with listening devices installed in the defendants’ vehicles and at the car wash.
Numerous conversations between the pair were recorded, originally in Kurdish, before being translated into English for the trial.
Photographs were also taken of the defendants, with Khdir pictured at the car wash and Shamo captured on camera at Heathrow Airport.
Both defendants hold British citizenship; Shamo was born in Iraq, while Khdir was born in Iran.
The pair owned and ran Fast Track Hand Car Wash Ltd between 2015 and 2021. It was alleged that while the company did function as a legitimate car wash, it may also have served as a front for the defendants’ other activities.
Both men have been sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment each.
