Middlesbrough people smuggler and fellow gang members face jail after woman hidden in glove box

Middlesbrough: So, there’s this wild story about a people smuggling gang that got busted. It all started when a Vietnamese woman was found stuffed in a glove box of a car. Can you believe that?

Khales Akram Jabar, a member of this gang, is now facing some serious jail time. The whole thing kicked off back in June 2022 when Border Force officers made the shocking discovery.

Turns out, Jabar was part of a larger group of eight people involved in this illegal operation. Five of them admitted their guilt, but the rest had to go through a trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

After a lengthy trial, the court found all eight guilty. This includes two brothers, a husband and wife, and a few others. They were all working together to help people sneak into the UK, using some pretty dodgy methods.

The gang was caught after a guy named Jozef Balog was stopped at the border. When officers searched his car, they found the woman hidden away. Balog ended up getting two and a half years in prison for his role.

Then there was Emily Etherington, who got caught hiding another woman in her car. She and her husband were linked to the smuggling operation, and she also pleaded guilty.

The investigation revealed a whole network of people involved in smuggling and making fake documents. They even found counterfeit IDs and a stash of illegal cigarettes during their searches.

Things got serious when they arrested the main suspect, Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, at Manchester Airport. They found loads of evidence on his phone, including images of fake documents.

Now, all eight of them are set to face the music in court again in January 2025. It’s a real eye-opener about how these gangs operate and the risks they take with people’s lives.

The authorities are really cracking down on this kind of crime, and it’s good to see them working hard to keep things safe. If anyone has info about immigration crime, they can report it anonymously.