Portsmouth people smuggler jailed for over eight years after transporting hundreds of illegal migrants to the UK

Ali Omar Karim, 47, of Alderman Gardens, Portsmouth, was sentenced to eight years and seven months in prison on February 25 after he pled guilty to facilitating illegal immigration in July 2024.

The judge said that Karim had played a “leading role” in the operation with a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation finding that he controlled a network of smugglers throughout northern Europe and the Middle East.

Karim was identified after an incident in February 2022 where CCTV footage captured a yacht running aground in Rye, Sussex with a number of people swimming to shore. Within two hours, 14 individuals from Iran, Iraq and Albania, including two children, were detained by Border Force officers.

The incident led the NCA to Karim with an examination of his phone uncovering his involvement in the movement of people from Serbia, Turkey, Kosovo, Bosnia and other countries through border crossings in Romania and Hungary via HGV.

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NCA Branch Commander Rachel Bramley said: "Karim was a key member of an organised crime group involved in transporting people by HGV, small boat, yachts and planes. He was high up in the chain of command, making decisions on crossing days, routes and prices.

"This was a long-running NCA investigation working alongside partners in the UK and overseas. Tackling organised immigration crime is a top priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks behind it, wherever they operate."

Evidence on Karim’s phone showed that people paid between £800 and £1,000 to get into the EU with a larger amount then charged to get them from France to the UK.

Further messages showed the Portsmouth man discussing another smuggling attempt in November 2022 where he suggested they charged people £1,650 each for crossing in an HGV. Later that month a lorry was stopped in Calais with two Iraqi nationals found hidden in the trailer.

Evidence of numerous other smuggling attempts were also found on his phone with one voice note showing that two people paid £24,000 for a lorry crossing whereby a driver would board them on one side before dropping them on the other side. It was emphasised that if they were arrested in the lorry “they not pay a cent”.

Karim was arrested in Portsmouth in March 2024 (see video embedded in this article).