Convicted people smuggler Twana Jamal found working in Leicestershire village

A convicted people smuggler once described as the godfather of the French migrant camps was found living and working illegally in a Leicestershire village, while also believed to be seeking asylum in the UK. Twana Jamal had previously been sentenced to five years in France in connection with a smuggling network that moved migrants toward Britain.

Jamal, an Iraqi Kurd known in earlier reporting as “the Pasha,” was convicted by a Dunkirk court in September 2016 over a migrant-smuggling operation on the northern French coast. Contemporary accounts described a highly profitable business model: Jamal and an accomplice were said to have arranged passage for more than 80 migrants in a single month, with estimates of the operation’s monthly takings ranging from about £300,000 to £364,500.

His reappearance in Leicestershire adds a new layer to a long-running cross-Channel enforcement problem. The Calais area and the wider French coast were a major staging point for people trying to reach the UK during the 2015-16 migrant crisis, and the Calais Jungle was cleared in October 2016 after drawing international attention as one of the most visible camps linked to those journeys.

The National Crime Agency says organised immigration crime remains one of the most lucrative criminal rackets. The agency says illegal migration can bypass essential background checks, fund other organised crime, and put migrants in danger, a warning that sits at the centre of the Jamal case because a man with a serious smuggling conviction was able to embed himself in a UK community while apparently outside official sight.

The case also comes against a continuing enforcement push on both sides of the Channel. In 2024, French authorities jailed nine smugglers over a fatal crossing in which four people died and four others went missing. Jamal’s presence in the UK, after a French conviction and amid an asylum claim, sharpens the question of how effectively the system identifies high-risk applicants before they establish themselves in local areas.