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HomeCRIME & PUNISHMENTSENTENCE & FINEFugitive Human Smugglers Ziarmal Khan, Zeeshan Banghis, Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai Convicted in...

Fugitive Human Smugglers Ziarmal Khan, Zeeshan Banghis, Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai Convicted in UK, Awaits Extradition to Belgium

Three men convicted in Belgium over their involvement in a major people smuggling ring following a joint investigation by the National Crime Agency and Belgian police have been arrested in the UK.

The men – all Afghan nationals – were apprehended by National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service officers in south London, Hertfordshire and Essex after warrants were issued for their arrest by Belgian courts.

Ziarmal Khan, aka Boxer Bhai, aged 24, was arrested on 6 December by MPS officers at Stansted Airport concerning a domestic violence offence and further arrested on behalf of the Belgians while in custody.

Specialist NCA extradition officers then arrested 20-year-old Zeeshan Banghis, aka Bangash Zeeshan, at an address on New Kent Road on 18 December and Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai, aka Raees Hamza, 23, at an address in Hemel Hempstead on Monday 30 December.

Prosecutors in Belgium say the trio’s gang were involved in organising the transport of migrants from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkey and the Balkans into Western Europe, mainly France and Belgium. Many would eventually be put on small boats from northern France to the UK, with the gang suspected of transporting thousands of people this way.

The group also committed serious sexual offences against male migrant minors, including rape which they would video and use the footage to blackmail the victims into criminality and further sexual abuse.

NCA investigators supported the Belgian investigation for around two years, supplying intelligence and evidence to the Belgian Federal Police around suspected members of the network.

Last month, a court in Antwerp convicted and sentenced the trio and 20 other members of the gang to a total of 170 years imprisonment, with sentences ranging from two to 18 years. Eleven members were tried in their absence, including the three men arrested in the UK.

Ahmedzai was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, while Khan and Banghis were each sentenced to three years in jail. All three were also fined 3,000 euros. They now face being returned to Belgium to serve their sentences, and extradition proceedings have commenced.

Officers also worked with colleagues from Border Force and Immigration Enforcement to identify migrants and victims of the network who had been transported to the UK, conducting safeguarding checks.

NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner said, “This operation shows that no matter where people smuggling gangs operate, we will find them and bring them to justice.

“These men were part of a network involved in illegally moving migrants across the globe, through Europe and eventually into northern Europe and the UK, profiting from the dangerous situations they put vulnerable people into as they were transported, and committing the most heinous sexual offences against them.

“The work done by NCA officers, alongside partners in the UK and Belgium, was crucial to securing the convictions in Antwerp of gang members in November this year, and these further arrests should send a very clear message that we will not stop in our work to disrupt and dismantle the gangs that are behind these horrendous crimes.”

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