A husband and wife, two brothers and the rest of a huge people smuggling gang were snared after one of its lead members were stopped by police after landing at Manchester Airport.
A major two-year investigation was carried out by the Home Office into eight members of the UK-based gang, with some members from Manchester, following a woman being found hidden inside a modified car’s glove box, beneath the dashboard, in June 2022.
The gang’s activity was unearthed when Jozef Kadet, from Manchester, was stopped at the UK border after travelling on the Eurotunnel from France. During a search of his vehicle, officers discovered a Vietnamese woman concealed in a cramped compartment behind the dashboard.
He previously pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in January 2024.
A month later, in July 2022, another member, Emily Etherington, was stopped by Border Force officers after she was found to be concealing another woman in the dashboard of the vehicle.
A woman crammed under the dashboard
(Image: Home Office)
Etherington was arrested and following further enquiries, investigators were able to identify that her husband Redar Curtis was also linked to the facilitation. Etherington pleaded guilty at a hearing in October 2024 and Curtis stood trial.
After linking the three to the people smuggling facilitations, the Home Office then undertook a wider investigation which revealed a ‘sophisticated network’ of gang members engaged in people smuggling and document forgery, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
The investigation saw raided seven properties across the UK, resulting in the seizure of counterfeit documents, over 20,000 illicit cigarettes, and £6,000 in cash.
The investigation made a breakthrough on November 19 2023 when Immigration Enforcement officers arrested Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, the principal suspect, at Manchester Airport. The arrest came after a parcel, sent from Greece, was intercepted and found to contain a false driving licence, addressed to a property in Bolton, listing Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin’s UK mobile number as the contact.
Main suspect Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin was arrested at Manchester Airport
(Image: Home Office)
Upon seizing and examining Hamadamin’s phone, officers discovered evidence, including hundreds of images of passports and boarding passes, messages detailing the creation and distribution of false documents, and videos believed to have been recorded inside a forgery factory in Greece.
The court heard how the gang worked together between 2022 and 2024 to unlawfully facilitate immigration into the UK via land and air, fraud, as well as creating and possessing counterfeit identity documents, which were believed to have been manufactured using a Greek forgery factory.
Their methods included smuggling migrants across the Channel and hiding them within dangerous spaces of customised vehicles, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
People were stashed inside dangerous spaces of customised vehicles
(Image: Home Office)
The gang were also involved in the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit identity documents. These documents enabled non-EU nationals to travel via air into the UK from Europe.
Following a ten-week trial and five guilty pleas, brothers Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin and Muhamad Jamal Hamadamin, Yassen Jalal Mohammed, Jozef Kadet, Dlawar Omar, Khales Jabar and husband and wife Redar Curtis and Emily Etherington, now face prison sentences. They will attend a sentencing hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court on January 29.
(From top left) Yassen Jalal Mohammed, Redar Curtis, Muhamad Jamal Hamadamin, Khales Jabar, Jozef Kadet and Dlawar Omar
(Image: Home Office)
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Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, 43, of Brook Road, Stockport, pleaded guilty to: four counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom; one count of conspiracy to make an article for use in a fraud; one count of possession of an identity document with improper intention.
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Muhamad Jamal Hamadamin, 27, of Brook Road, Stockport, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud; one count of possessing an identity document with improper intention.
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Yassen Jalal Mohammed, 43, of Woodhouse Grove, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
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Dlawar Omar, 40, of Pendrill Street, Hull, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
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Emily Etherington, 37, of Guernsey Way, Kennington, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
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Redar Curtis, 30, of Guernsey Way, Kennington, was found guilty of one county to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
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Jozef Kadet, 25, of Constable Street, Manchester, was found guilty of one county to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
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Khales Akram Jabar, 44, of Barnaby Avenue, Middlesbrough, was found guilty of one count to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: “This case shows the ruthless tactics of criminal gangs who smuggle people through Europe and into the UK. They have no regard for human life and exploit vulnerable individuals solely for profit, putting them in incredibly dangerous situations.
“Our investigators have worked tirelessly to track down this gang, gather critical evidence and bring them to justice. Our investigators’ efforts mean that this gang’s operations have been dismantled, their profits slashed, and we are delivering on this government’s Plan for Change: to protect our borders, disrupt people-smuggling networks, and end the exploitation of vulnerable individuals.
“Our new Border Security Command, supported by £150 million in funding, is vital to this mission. It allows us to target these networks wherever they operate, undermine their profits, break their business models—all while reinforcing the security of our borders.”
Home Office Immigration Enforcement, Chief Immigration Officer Paul Moran added: “Today’s convictions are the result of a complex investigation into organised crime that stretched across Europe and took over two years of hard work by our Criminal and Financial Investigation teams in Dover and Manchester. Our team worked closely with the Spanish National Police, Greek Police, and Irish Garda Síochána to break up this criminal group, which was illegally smuggling non-EU nationals into the UK.
“This group put profit ahead of people’s safety, facilitating them through dangerous methods in vehicles and by air, showing no concern for the well-being of those they smuggled. We are committed to stopping dangerous criminal networks and protecting our borders. If you have any information about immigration crime, you can report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. By working together, we can disrupt these gangs and help keep people safe.”
If you have any information about immigration crime, you can report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.