Zada headed up a criminal network of smugglers
Anjan Ahamdi, 26, of Stefano Road, Preston, is believed to be the brother of Amanj Hasan Zada, who was jailed last year for 17 years after advertising small boat Channel crossings on Facebook calling himself the “best smuggler”.
Zada headed up a criminal network of smugglers moving people from Turkey into mainland Europe and then onwards to the UK.
Ahamdi “played a critical role” in Zada’s crime group, staying in contact with migrants and booking travel tickets for legs of their journey, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Zada was arrested in May 2024 at his home in Preston, which he shared with Ahmadi, who also acted as his driver.
Conversations recorded by NCA officers showed the pair were in contact with a number of other smugglers in Europe and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
A video, found on YouTube by the NCA and thought to have been recorded in Iraq in 2021, showed Zada at a party with musicians singing a song in Kurdish feting him as “the best smuggler”, saying “all the other smugglers have learned from him”, while he throws cash at them and fires a gun in the air in
