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Episode details

Radio Leicester,8 mins

People smuggler found by BBC living in Leicester

Available for over a year

A convicted people smuggler, once described as "the godfather" of the French migrant camps, is living in Leicestershire and believed to be seeking asylum while working illegally, a BBC investigation can reveal. Twana Jamal was given a five-year jail sentence in France in 2016, where authorities described him as one of the most successful people smugglers ever caught. Prosecutors said the Iraqi Kurd, aged 36 at the time, had earned up to £100,000 a week for moving illegal immigrants across the Channel. Following a tip-off this year, we traced Jamal to the village of Blaby and witnessed him working, driving a car without a licence and apparently using a false name. Hear BBC journalist Sue Mitchell's report, and her interview with BBC Leicester's Ady Dayman. The Home Office told us: "All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks."

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