A convicted Iraqi-Kurdish people smuggler, Twana Jamal, has been located living and working in the Leicestershire village of Blaby while awaiting a decision on his UK asylum claim, a BBC investigation has found. Jamal was sentenced to five years in prison in France in 2016 for running a cross-Channel smuggling network that prosecutors said earned him up to £100,000 a week. Despite the conviction, which under UK immigration rules should trigger a mandatory refusal of asylum, he entered Britain and is using a false identity, the investigation showed. He was observed driving without a licence and working in a minimarket, and in a recorded call he boasted that “no one touches us here” and that he was making “good money”.

The case has drawn attention to the consequences of the UK’s departure from the European Union’s data-sharing arrangements. According to the Immigration Services Union, Britain no longer has access to criminal record databases from many EU member states, making it harder to verify the backgrounds of asylum seekers. “If we were able to share databases, even if just with our nearest neighbours … then, yes, we’d know that they had a conviction for people smuggling,” a union representative told British media. The Home Office stated that all asylum claimants undergo mandatory security checks, but did not comment on the specific case. French prosecutors had described Jamal as one of the most successful smugglers they had ever caught, and he was known in migrant camps as “Pasha”.

The BBC investigation identified more than 20 active smugglers who have reached the UK, some with overseas convictions, and some claiming asylum under false names. The findings coincide with a separate government announcement that irregular Channel crossings fell by 41 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year, to 11,884 arrivals. London attributes the decline to a three-year, £662 million agreement with Paris signed in April, which funds intensified French beach patrols and inland controls. Additional bilateral deals with Germany, targeting smuggler storage facilities, and with Iraq, to accelerate returns, have also been concluded.

The Labour government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer until his recent resignation announcement, has introduced an asylum reform bill that would make refugee status temporary and require some recognised refugees to repay accommodation costs once they have the means. The bill’s future is uncertain, as Andy Burnham is expected to become party leader and prime minister in mid-July and may appoint a new cabinet. Viewed from Westminster, the drop in crossings offers a potential political boost against the anti-immigration Reform UK party, whose opinion-poll lead has narrowed. The Home Office has not indicated when a decision on Jamal’s asylum claim will be made, and the wider screening gaps remain under scrutiny as the new asylum legislation awaits parliamentary progress.