Man Hid Woman in Car Dashboard to Smuggle Her Into the UK, But Didn’t See What Was Coming Next
In June 2022, a man named Jozef Balog from Manchester was stopped at the UK border after returning from France. Border officers searched his car and found a Vietnamese woman hidden in a tiny, cramped compartment behind the dashboard. Balog admitted he was helping her enter the UK illegally. In January 2024, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his actions.
Just a month later, in July 2022, another person, Emily Etherington, was stopped by Border Force officers. She was caught hiding a woman in the same way—in the dashboard of her car. Investigators looked into her case and found that her husband, Redar Curtis, was also involved in helping people enter the UK illegally.
These discoveries led to a bigger investigation that revealed a criminal network specializing in smuggling people into the UK. Officers carried out raids in seven locations across the country, where they found fake documents, over 20,000 illegal cigarettes, and £6,000 in cash. This showed how large and organized the group was.
On November 19, 2023, officers arrested the leader of the smuggling operation, Mukhlis Jamal Hamadamin, at Manchester Airport. The arrest came after authorities intercepted a parcel sent from Greece. The package contained a fake Greek driving license and was addressed to a property in Bolton. The contact details on the parcel included Hamadamin’s UK mobile number.
When officers searched Hamadamin’s phone, they found hundreds of photos of passports and boarding passes, text messages discussing fake documents, and videos that appeared to show a forgery factory in Greece. This evidence revealed how the group operated and how far their network reached.
Dame Angela Eagle, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said this case showed how criminal gangs smuggle people into the UK for profit, with no regard for their safety or well-being. She praised the investigators for their hard work in stopping the gang, dismantling their operations, and cutting off their profits. Eagle highlighted that this aligns with the government’s plan to protect borders and stop people-smuggling networks.
Chief Immigration Officer Paul Moran also commented on the case, explaining how it took over two years of hard work and international cooperation with police forces in Spain, Greece, and Ireland. He described how the group prioritized money over people’s safety, using dangerous methods like hiding individuals in cramped spaces inside vehicles. He emphasized the government’s commitment to stopping such criminal networks and ensuring border security.
This case not only brought several criminals to justice but also sent a strong message that illegal smuggling operations will be uncovered and stopped.
