The Londoner was deemed unfit to stand trial
A “prolific” people smuggler has been found responsible for transporting migrants to the UK via a yacht which ran aground in East Sussex, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Mohammed Ali Nareman, 37, from London, was found to have committed multiple people-smuggling offences relating to English Channel crossings in HGV lorries, small boats and a yacht.
Nareman, known to the migrants as “Hama Kalari”, was deemed unfit to stand trial because he suffered from depression, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so instead a trial of the facts took place at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday. His accomplice, Ali Omar Karim, 47, from Portsmouth, who controlled a network of HGV smugglers, pleaded guilty to people-smuggling offences in June last year.
On February 12 2022 there were reports that a 20ft blue yacht had run aground near Rye Harbour in East Sussex. Footage from the incident showed multiple figures jumping from the boat into the River Rye as it struggled to stay upright.
Border Force detained 14 individuals, including two children, from Iran, Iraq and Albania within two hours of the incident. When videos taken aboard the yacht by migrants were translated, the words, “we are all Hama Kalari’s passengers, thank the great God now we are in the water” could be heard.
One of the migrants had been in contact with Nareman prior to the event, which led to his arrest in April 2023, the NCA said. Nareman’s phone showed he had travelled from his home to Rye on February 12.
Images were found on his device of maps of the French and British coastlines, seemingly planning a crossing, along with migrant passports and a photo of Nareman holding £50,000 in cash. His phone also contained conversations regarding HGV and small boat crossings along with prices and arguments with other smugglers, the NCA said.
Rachel Bramley, from the NCA, said: “Mohammed Ali Nareman was extremely prolific in the criminal world of people smuggling. His messages with Karim and others showed the group’s disdain for the people they were transporting – they were seen as nothing more than a commodity for them to make money from.
“Our investigators uncovered their extensive digital footprint, which showed months of activity organising crossings both by small boats and HGVs, sharing routes and prices, receiving praise in videos of migrants on their crossings and boasting of the proceeds they made.” Karim will be sentenced on January 8 2026, and Nareman will remain in custody until the same date.
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