Two men from Yorkshire have been jailed for smuggling people into the UK in the back of a refrigerated lorry, but their suspect ringleader is on the run.

Kamaran Kader, a 44-year-old from Bradford, was sentenced to 54 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and Mariwan Tofiq Mustafa, a 33 -year-old from Halifax, was jailed for 30 months for facilitating illegal immigration.

Goran Jalal, a 37-year-old from Bradford who allegedly organised numerous crossings, is on the run.

But another five men were jailed at the same court for their part in the operation, which transported migrants on a lorries that were ferried from France to Portsmouth.

Migrants were smuggled into the UK in a Romanian lorry driven by Marinel Palage

The gang were arrested in an National Crime Agency (NCA) operation in March 2019, when surveillance officers followed them to a handover meeting on an industrial estate in Runcton, West Sussex.

They watched as three migrants, who had been transported in a Romanian lorry driven by Marinel Palage, 31, were collected by other gang members.

Kader and Jalal, who were in one car, were arrested by NCA officers at a service station on the A3 as they drove away from the meeting. But Jalal fled when he was released on bail.

Officers found fingerprints belonging to Kader and Pshtewan Ghafour, a 37-year-old from Middlesbrough, on bags and envelopes of cash in Palage’s lorry.

Goran Jalal, Hemin Salih, Jamal Saied, Marinel Palage, Mariwan Mustafa and Pshtewan Ghafour

Following a four week trial at Bournemouth Crown Court, Palage and Ghafour were found guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration in March. They were sentenced to nine and five years in prison respectively.

During the same trial their accomplices – Mustafa, Jamal Walid Saied and Salih were all found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration. They were handed sentences of two-and-a-half years, three years and two years respectively.

Kader, of Basil Street in Bradford, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

Salih fled before the start of his trial and was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in his absence. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

NCA officers are also looking to arrest Jalal, of Brandfort Street in Bradford, so he can stand trial.

Branch Commander Richard Harrison said: “People smugglers risk lives, which is why targeting them is a priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved.

“The men convicted and sentenced put profit ahead of people.

"They were happy to put vulnerable migrants into the backs of lorries for long Channel sea crossings, and I’m delighted they are now behind bars.

“But Goran Jalal and Hemin Ali Salih both remain at large. Warrants have been issued for their arrests, and we will not rest until they are in custody.”

Anyone with information about Jalal or Salih should contact the NCA on 0370 4967622.

People smugglers from Yorkshire jailed but suspected ringleader is on the run