People smuggler caught after yacht ran aground

Mohammed Ali Nareman was caught following the incident in Rye in 2022

A people smuggling operation was uncovered after a yacht carrying migrants ran aground off the Sussex coast, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.

Messages on phones carried by people aboard the vessel led to the arrest of two men who were involved in smuggling via small boats, lorries, and the yacht.

Mohammed Ali Nareman, 37, from Barnet in London, faced a trial of facts at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday, while Ali Omar Karim, 47, from Portsmouth pleaded guilty to people smuggling offences in August 2024.

Both are due to be sentenced on 8 January, but despite a jury finding Nareman had committed the offences, he will avoid jail as the result of a trial of facts does not constitute a criminal conviction.

A judge had ruled the Iraqi national was unfit to stand trial because he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks and depression, so could not be cross-examined or instruct defence lawyers.

The NCA said 14 people from Iran, Iraq and Albania were taken into custody after the yacht ran aground at Rye in February 2022.

Video clips on their phones showed them on the vessel and included the words "we are all Hama Kalari's passengers, thank the great God now we are in the water".

Nareman's own phone showed he had traveled to Rye on the same day, with Karim's phone showing each migrant had been charged £1,000 to enter the EU, then a larger amount to cross into the UK.

Other conversations between the two discussed weather conditions, small boat crossings and a £24,000 fee to be smuggled into the UK in a lorry.

'A commodity'

Rachel Bramley, from the NCA, said: "Mohammed Ali Nareman was extremely prolific in the criminal world of people smuggling.

"His messages with Karim showed the group's disdain for the people they were transporting – they were seen as nothing more than a commodity for them to make money from.

"Our investigators uncovered their extensive digital footprint, which showed months of activity organising crossings both by small boats and HGVs, sharing routes and prices, receiving praise in videos of migrants on their crossings and boasting of the proceeds they made."

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