by An Albanian woman who acted as a front for smugglers arranging small boat crossings to the UK has been jailed for seven and a half years.
Ujeza Kurmekaj, 32, facilitated crossings from France for Albanian nationals before her arrest last year as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
Hundreds of messages on her phone made clear her “key role” in connecting human traffickers with passengers, the agency said.
He sent instructions to contacts in France about who to take, with messages such as “family 3 women, children 14 17 12” and “we have a family here, man woman one child”.
Ujeza Kurmekaj played an important role as a broker, connecting migrants with smugglers who could take them on perilous journeys across the Channel
Andy MacGill, NCA
Other conversations showed conditions including “very rough seas” and location pins on the map guiding where to pick up migrants or where boats were in the English Channel.
Further exchanges showed that individuals contacted her to arrange crossings for their families.
Her phone also contained 21 images of Albanian identity cards and passports which, when checked against immigration systems, showed that nine of the people had arrived in the UK by small boat.
She was arrested by NCA officers at her home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, last October before being charged in September with facilitating illegal immigration.
Kurmekaj had no concern for the safety and security of the people she arranged transit for, only that she and her employers got paid
Andy MacGill, NCA
She pleaded guilty to the charge at Oxford Crown Court earlier this month before being sentenced on Friday and will be automatically deported after her release.
Senior NCA officer Andy MacGill said: “Ujeza Kurmekaj played an important role as a broker, connecting migrants with smugglers who could take them on dangerous journeys across the Channel.
“For this, he would arrange payments of hundreds of euros per person.
“Kurmekaj had no concern for the safety and security of the people she was arranging the routes for, only that she and her employers were getting paid.
“Disrupting and dismantling organized crime groups responsible for people smuggling is a priority for the NCA and we will continue to target offenders involved at every step of the journey.”
