An Albanian woman who acted as a fixer for people smugglers arranging small boat crossings to the UK has been jailed for seven and a half years, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Ujeza Kurmekaj, 32, facilitated crossings from France for Albanian nationals before her arrest last year as part of an NCA investigation.
Hundreds of messages on her phone made clear her 鈥渒ey role鈥 in linking people smugglers with passengers, the agency said.
She sent instructions to contacts in France on who they should pick up, with messages such as聽鈥渇amily one 3 women, children 14 17 12 years old鈥 and 鈥渨e have here one family, man wife one child鈥.
Further exchanges showed people making contact with her to arrange crossings for their families.
Her phone also contained 21 images of Albanian ID cards and passports which, when checked on immigration systems, showed that nine of the individuals had arrived in the UK by small boat.
She was arrested by NCA officers at her home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, last October before being charged in September with facilitating illegal immigration.
NCA senior investigating officer Andy MacGill said: 鈥淯jeza Kurmekaj played a major role as a broker, linking migrants with people smugglers who could transport them on dangerous journeys across the Channel.
鈥淔or this, she would arrange payments of hundreds of euros per person.
鈥淜urmekaj had little interest in the safety and security of the people she was arranging crossings for, only that she and her employers received payment.
鈥淒isrupting and dismantling organised crime groups responsible for people smuggling is a priority for the NCA and we鈥檒l continue to target offenders involved at every step of the journey.鈥
