An investigation by the BBC has found that a convicted people smuggler, who has helped move hundreds of people across the English Channel, has been living in the UK, where he's awaiting a decision on his asylum claim. The man, known as "the godfather" of the French migrant camps, is also believed to be illegally employed. The BBC says it knows of more than 20 similar cases in Britain.
A BBC investigation found that a convicted people smuggler named Twana J. is living in Leicestershire in central England, where he has lodged an asylum claim while also believed to be working illegally.
Twana J., an Iraqi Kurd, had been issued a five-year jail sentence in France in 2016 for helping people cross the English Channel irregularly.
French authorities described Twana J., who is believed to be 45 years old, as one of the most successful people smugglers they had ever caught; he is thought to have earned up to 110,000 euros weekly moving migrants across the Channel.
The majority of the journeys that "the godfather" organized were found not to rely on small boats but on facilitating clandestine migrant crossings on lorries carrying cargo.
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Defiant upon being confronted by reporting team
The BBC says it traced Twana J. to the Lincolnshire village of Blaby, where he was found to be living under a false identity.
The investigative report highlighted that the smuggler was found to be driving a car there despite not having a valid driver's licence, and that he was engaging in paid work; people awaiting an asylum decision are usually not allowed to engage in gainful employment.
BBC reporters confronted Twana J. after investigating his presence in Lincolnshire for several days. He was found to be largely uncooperative, lying about his status, his work and his background.
Despite being positively and unmistakably identified, he initially claimed that he had been in Britain since 2009, and that he had never been involved in the smuggling trade, nor that he had ever been in prison in France.
After being presented with a picture of him during his trial, he stopped denying his true identity, but simply told the reporters: "I don't care."
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From Iraq to France to Britain
According to the BBC, Twana J. was for years part of a smuggling gang known as the Ranya Boys — one of several Kurdish gangs, which have reportedly flourished in the irregular Channel crossing trade since 2010.
During his trial in France, Twana J. had claimed that he was innocent and that his was a case of mistaken identity; he was found guilty and told that he would face deportation back to Iraq after finishing his prison sentence.
According to French prosecutors, he had been running his operation from the Grand Synthe camp near the northern French city of Dunkirk from about 2012 until 2016, charging his customers around 5,000 euros for each crossing to the UK.
After being released from jail, Twana J. reportedly made his way to the UK, where he later applied for asylum.
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UK border and asylum checks under scrutiny
Twana J.'s successful arrival and ongoing presence in Britain cast doubts on the overall efficacy of the UK's border control system and the robustness of its asylum checks.
Individuals who have committed serious crimes abroad are typically refused any form of leave to remain in the country since, according to British law, anyone who has spent over a year in a foreign prison should be refused.
This could mean that using a fake name may have worked as a strategy to get around the checks, or that his criminal record in France was not flagged.
This could partly be due to the effects of Britain's departure from the European Union in 2020 (known commonly as "Brexit"), which resulted in the UK stopping its data-sharing agreement with EU countries, making it harder to check the criminal records of prospective asylum seekers.
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Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union told the BBC that "[I]f we were able to share databases, even if just with our nearest neighbours, with Germany, with Belgium, with Holland and France, say — then, yes, we'd know that they had a conviction for people smuggling."
According to the Home Office,"[a]ll asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks."
Over 20 similar cases known
The BBC investigation also said that some other 20 smugglers -- some with convictions abroad -- were believed to have come to the UK, with several lodging asylum claims under false names.
It highlighted the case of one man also convicted in France, found to be living in Manchester, and believed to still be involved in the smuggling business.
The report mentioned another man, also with a conviction in France, who had claimed asylum under a false name in Blackpool.
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