A man known among his clients as “the best smuggler” has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for orchestrating cross-Channel small boat crossings, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
Amanj Hasan Zada, 34, of Stefano Road in Preston, was convicted of three counts of facilitating illegal immigration after a two-week trial at Preston Crown Court. The NCA tied Zada to at least three specific Channel crossings in late 2023, involving Kurdish migrants who had journeyed through Eastern Europe before reaching France for the final leg into the UK.
Zada, who operated under the alias Amanj Zaman, promoted his smuggling services on social media, where he shared videos of previous clients praising his help. In one video, Kurdish musicians celebrated him as the “best smuggler,” while Zada threw cash at the performers and fired a gun into the air.
NCA officers linked Zada to smuggling networks through recorded conversations, social media accounts, and contacts with migrants he had assisted. Evidence gathered included travel tickets for one migrant and numerous posts advertising crossings. Following his arrest in May 2024, Zada’s phone was found to contain incriminating messages and contacts with other smugglers.
“Zada ran a sophisticated people-smuggling enterprise, using social media to lure clients,” said NCA Branch Commander Martin Clarke. “He cared only for profit, with no regard for the lives he put at risk. People smugglers like him are a direct threat to human life, which is why we remain committed to disrupting these operations at every level.”
The NCA currently has approximately 70 active investigations into high-level organised immigration crime and human trafficking, with efforts targeting criminal networks across the entire migrant route—from origin to transit countries, at the UK border, and within the UK.
