An Iraqi man living in Wolverhampton who pleaded guilty to working with an organised crime gang to illegally bring Vietnamese nationals to the UK has been jailed for 10 years and two months today (26 March).

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted Ramal Briem, 33, who was charging an alleged crime boss £1,500 for each migrant he could bring to the UK. The alleged boss of the group, who was also based in the UK, is currently facing extradition to France for alleged immigration, drug, and modern slavery offences.

The plot was exposed when the alleged boss was arrested in April 2024 on a French extradition warrant and police seized and examined his mobile phone. The investigation by the National Crime Agency found a chat with Briem in September 2023 where Briem agreed to help get an undisclosed number of migrants from across Europe to the UK with the last part of the journey being on small boats. They referred to migrants as ‘chickens’ to hide what they were really doing – 

Alleged crime boss: Ok let me know the specific day and I will have the chicken ready. Then you come to pick up the chickens.
Ramal Briem: I send one person to pick up them (sic).
Alleged crime boss: Ok, how many chickens will you pick up? Can you pick up 1 chicken? How much?
Ramal Briem: From Romaine to where you want. To they (sic) France you want?
Alleged crime boss: Uk bro. England. 

At his sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court the prosecution said the group would bring Vietnamese migrants to eastern Europe on work visas and then move them to France where they would get on small boats to come to the UK. When they arrived here other members of the gang would help them disappear within the Vietnamese community.

Hilary Ryan, Specialist Prosecutor, from the Crown Prosecution Service said:

“Ramal Briem was part of an international crime group working across Europe to illegally bring migrants into the UK. He offered to arrange spaces on small boats for other organised crime groups.

“My colleagues and I are working around the clock with law enforcement to prosecute those who break our immigration laws and harm community relations to make money for themselves.”

NCA senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar said: 

“The language Ramal Briem used to describe people illustrates his complete disregard for human life.

“To him, migrants were nothing more than a commodity to trade in, regardless of the severe risks they were taking during these dangerous journeys, all for his own financial benefit.

“The migrants themselves may have wanted to come to the UK to establish a better life for themselves and their families. But the fact they chose to use smugglers like Briem to enter the UK clandestinely automatically put them at a far greater risk of being embroiled in debt bondage or modern slavery situations.

“The NCA will continue to work with partners both internationally and domestically, including the CPS, to bring criminals like Ramal Briem to justice and disrupt the organised crime groups behind this evil trade.”