Horrifying moment smuggled woman is found crammed inside car’s fake GLOVE BOX – as eight face jail

EIGHT men are facing jail after horror photos show a smuggled woman crammed inside a fake car glove box.

A Vietnamese woman was found hidden in the compartment after the sick gang concealed her behind the dashboard of a car. 

Following the horror discovery in June 2022, an investigation was launched with cops unearthing a people smuggling network.

It resulted in the seizure of counterfeit documents, as well as 20,000 illicit cigarettes and £6,000 in cash. 

Three UK-based people being found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration, with five other associates also facing jail sentences. 

The trio of faced a 10-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after denying assisting unlawful immigration to the UK.

Redar Curtis, 30, of Guernsey Way, Kennington, Jozef Kadet, 25, of Constable Street, Manchester, and Khales Akram Jabar, 44, of Barnaby Avenue, Middlesbrough, were each found guilty on Wednesday.

The court heard how the gang worked together between 2022 and 2024 to unlawfully smuggle people to the UK via land and air.

The gang managed to do so by creating and possessing counterfeit identity documents believed to have been made using a Greek forgery factory, according to the Home Office.

Five members of the gang, brothers Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, 43, and Muhamad Jamal Hamadamin, 27, Yassen Jalal Mohammed, 43, Dlawar Omar, 40, and Curtis' wife Emily Etherington, 37, pleaded guilty to charges put against them.

Mukhlis Hamadamin, of Brook Road, Stockport, admitted four counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK, one count of conspiracy to make an article for use in a fraud and one count of possession of an identity document with improper intention.

His brother Muhamad, also of Brook Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and one count of possessing an identity document with improper intention.

Mohammed, of Woodhouse Grove, Huddersfield, admitted three counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK, while Omar, of Pendrill Street, Hull.

Etherington, from Kennington, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK.

The investigation was prompted by the discovery at the UK border of a Vietnamese woman hiding in a cramped compartment concealed behind the dashboard of a vehicle being driven by Jozef Balog in June 2022 upon his return from France.

Balog pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in January last year.

In July 2022, Etherington was stopped by Border Force officers after they found she was hiding another woman in the dashboard of her vehicle.

Her husband, Curtis, was then linked to the operation prompting the Home Office to launch a wider investigation.

The group of eight will appear at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on January 29 for a hearing where a sentencing date is expected to be set.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: "This case shows the ruthless tactics of criminal gangs who smuggle people through Europe and into the UK.

"They have no regard for human life and exploit vulnerable individuals solely for profit, putting them in incredibly dangerous situations."

While chief immigration officer at Home Office Immigration Enforcement, Paul Moran, said: "Today's convictions are the result of a complex investigation into organised crime that stretched across Europe and took over two years of hard work by our Criminal and Financial Investigation teams in Dover and Manchester.

"Our team worked closely with the Spanish National Police, Greek Police, and Irish (An) Garda Siochana to break up this criminal group, which was illegally smuggling non-EU nationals into the UK.

"This group put profit ahead of people's safety, facilitating them through dangerous methods in vehicles and by air, showing no concern for the wellbeing of those they smuggled."