Police appeal to trace smuggling boss sentenced in Belgium

Barzan Kamal Majeed came to the UK in 2013 but was deported two years later

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of the head of an organised crime group that attempted to smuggle more than 100 migrants to the UK.

Barzan Kamal Majeed, nicknamed "Scorpion" after his WhatsApp avatar, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for people smuggling offences at a court in Bruges last month.

He was also fined €968,000 (£853,698).

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Majeed moved to the UK in 2013 and lived in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

The 36-year-old was deported from the UK in 2015 to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where the NCA says he is believed to still have links. He is also understood to still have connections to Nottinghamshire.

The NCA is appealing for information regarding his whereabouts.

Majeed was sentenced in Belgium after a multinational investigation into 31 separate attempts to smuggle migrants into the UK between July 2018 and November 2019 using small boats, lorries and shipping containers.

The same operation saw one man jailed for 10 years for his part in people smuggling operations, with another 23 people charged by Belgian authorities this year.