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Dramatic footage shows police storm small boat smuggler’s home after Channel crossings
11:10, 20 November 2023
updated: 12:53, 20 November 2023
This is the dramatic moment officers smashed through the door and stormed the home of a small boat people smuggler.
Ujeza Kurmekaj facilitated crossings for Albian nationals wanting to travel from France to the UK across the English Channel.
Investigators found hundreds of messages on the 32-year-old’s phone which revealed she played a key role linking people smugglers with passengers.
She sent instructions to contacts in France on who they should pick up, with messages including “family one, three women, children 14, 17, 12 years old” and “we have here one family, man wife one child”.
Other messages indicated conditions, including “very bad sea” and map location pins instructing where to pick migrants up or where boats were positioned in the Channel.
Further conversations showed individuals making contact with her to arrange crossings for their families.
Kurmekaj’s device also contained 21 images of Albanian ID cards and passports which, when checked on immigration systems, showed that nine of the individuals had arrived in the UK by small boat.
Video footage shows National Crime Agency (NCA) officers breaking down her door and storming her home before she was arrested.
She was charged with facilitating illegal immigration in September and pleaded guilty to the charge at Oxford Crown Court on November 3.
The Banbury, Oxfordshire resident was sentenced to seven and a half years at the same court on Friday and will be automatically deported at the end of her jail term.
NCA senior investigating officer Andy MacGill said: “Ujeza Kurmekaj played a major role as a broker, linking migrants with people smugglers who could transport them on dangerous journeys across the Channel.
“For this, she would arrange payments of hundreds of euros per person.
“Kurmekaj had little interest in the safety and security of the people she was arranging crossings for, only that she and her employers received payment.
“Disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups responsible for people smuggling is a priority for the NCA and we’ll continue to target offenders involved at every step of the journey.”
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