Smuggling kingpin's sick claim as he exposes callous business model - 'it's enjoyable'

A smuggling kingpin has sensationally claimed he is “helping” migrants despite threatening them with violence during dangerous journeys across Europe. Afghan criminal Haji Ajmal admitted it is his “job to be a bit aggressive” and rule groups of asylum seekers with an iron fist. He insisted it is necessary, or everyone else would get caught.

But Ajmal said he “enjoyed” his crimes because he was helping thousands of people to flee war-torn countries and receive “new protections” in the UK. The smuggler knows that Britain offers “very good” hospitality to illegal migrants, but denies pushing the message himself.

In an interview with the Daily Express, he said: "While it’s a very risky job, and we know it’s dangerous, it is enjoyable for us. It’s enjoyable when our clients arrive at their final destination.

“When our clients arrive in the UK, when they start a new life, when they have new protections. When they come from a war-torn country to our country and start a new life, it is enjoyable for us. At least we can say that we saved some families from war and put them in a safe zone.”

Asked if he believes he’s helping people, Ajmal said: “Well, yes, one of the main points for the people I’ve smuggled is their backgrounds are from wars and countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran, and we take them to a safe country, we think that we help them.

“We are not spreading the news to the people about the hospitality of the European countries, especially the UK. In fact, when these people arrive in the UK and see the hospitality, they speak with their friends and relatives back in their countries.

“They’ll say, ‘oh we’ve arrived in the UK, the life is very good. We have nice hospitality, and they will be encouraged. They find the money. If they think there’s a good life in the UK, they’ll say, okay, let’s do it.”

And Ajmal conceded his gang, which spans from Turkey to the UK, is violent.

He said: “That’s our job, to be a bit aggressive. When we take people from one part to another, we are in the front line, so we have to be very careful.

“When we take a break, we don’t let the people laugh. We might get angry if people break the rules because of the risk to us, because of the security. We just try to influence our clients to keep them quieter, to keep them, or force them, to follow the way.”

Justifying it, he added: “We will try our best not to hurt anyone. We are human. Sometimes this is our work; it happens that way. If there is a small mistake, the entire mission could have to be cancelled. We might be caught by the police.

“That’s why being aggressive and making sure everyone has to follow the rules… otherwise there are people laughing, they are making noise, we don’t become angry, aggressive, we might all face a big problem. For our own protection, we keep small weapons, like a knife.”

Haji Ajmal sparked alarm after telling the Sunday Express he had informants inside the British state, tipping him off about law enforcement efforts.

He said: There are people in the border areas, border police, they have some kind of cooperation with us. There are some people who are taking money. They are helping us.

“I can’t say how many people are in the UK. They will give us reports, ‘okay, we have checkpoints’ or ‘today, we have police searching’. We get all this information from our contacts inside the Government.”

Asked if the threats of a crackdown led by the National Crime Agency and European allies would put him off, Ajmal – not his real name - told the Sunday Express: “Demand is too high.

“There are a lot of people who are asking us to go to Europe. When demand is high, of course, we will take the risk.

“There are a lot of people, especially from Afghanistan, who would like to come to Europe.

“They would like to go to the UK. One of the reasons people would like to go to the UK is that there are rumours and reports among the Afghan people about very good hospitality in the UK, including hotels, and their families are encouraging them.

“The risk is more on the people, not us. These people are going by boat. That’s the risk.”