Two men who ran a huge people-smuggling operation from a car wash have both been sentenced to 19 years in prison. Dilshad Shamo, 41, and Ali Khdir, 40, both originally from Iraqi Kurdistan but living and working legally in the UK, organised the smuggling of about 100 migrants to Europe weekly for two years, an operation that has been labelled a “Tripadvisor for people smugglers” by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The two men worked from an otherwise legitimate car wash business in Caerphilly, south Wales, and financed the scheme using a Middle Eastern money-transfer system called Hawala. Police say Shamo and Khdir facilitated the movement of migrants from Iraq, Iran and Syria into EU countries such as Italy, Germany and France. Many of those people are suspected of eventually arriving in the UK. Migrants were offered three tiers of service, with the simplest being on foot or by lorry, the next by cargo ship or yacht and the top tier by plane.

One plane route from Turkey to Germany, costing £13,000, is thought to have been used by at least 11 people during the six-month operation. The pair are believed to have facilitated at least 142 people to travel by taxi from Croatia to Italy, for a price of around £800 each. The highest tier offered – platinum – would get migrants a fake passport and air travel, costing between £10,000 and £25,000.

NCA investigators estimate that at least 409 people were trafficked into Europe by the men in just the six months they were being watched by officers. Most of the people using the services were searching for a better life in Western Europe.

Before being taken into custody in April 2023, Khdir was recorded by hidden microphones in police cars telling Shamo: “Just tell them that we are buying and selling cars, just say we do transfer money from our home country.”

After pleading guilty partway through a trial following 10 days of evidence against them in November 2024, they appeared at Cardiff Crown Court for sentencing, with a judge describing them as “having leading roles in a sophisticated and successful” operation.

However, neither accepted that their role in the conspiracy was as important as made out by police. They said they were merely middlemen who facilitated the movement of a small number of migrants and claimed they did not profit from their activities.

However, police managed to intercept thousands of their messages and conversations. Shamo and Khdir used WhatsApp to communicate with people smugglers across Europe. Once a deposit was obtained, they would receive an ‘OK’ to move migrants along a specified route or within a specified timeframe.

Derek Evans, NCA branch commander, said Shamo and Khdir operated “like a travel agency”.

“It’s like Tripadvisor, they were rating their service within that community,” he said, adding that investigators had not been able to trace any of the individuals who they believe were smuggled into Europe, and therefore do not know if any of those migrants had a history of offending in their origin countries.