A prolific people smuggler who’s on a global ‘most wanted list’ is so ‘addicted’ to making illegal millions that he’s introduced ‘economy, business and first class’ tiers to migrants desperate for a new life in the UK – including £18,000 ‘less stress’ ferry tickets across the Channel.
A new BBC Radio 4 Intrigue podcast To Catch a Scorpion sees journalist Sue Mitchell join forces with volunteer aid worker – and former Army expert – Rob Lawrie to try and track down ruthless smuggler Barzan Majeed, who was born in Iraq and uses the codename ‘Scorpion’.
The podcast, of which there are three episodes released so far, sees the pair try and track down the criminal mastermind, who continues to evade capture, in spite of an international police surveillance operation that has imprisoned many of his underworld colleagues.
In 2022, he was handed a ten-year jail sentence for people smuggling in his absence at a court in Bruges. Majeed, who was once based in Nottingham, was also handed a 968,000 Euro (£849,000) fine.
A new BBC podcast, presented by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie, goes on the trail of Barzan Majeed, who remains at large and on international most-wanted lists for people smuggling
One anonymous contact who knew Scorpion during the early days of his criminal career estimates he’s now covertly moved tens of thousands of people – putting many of their lives at risk in lorries and on inadequate boats – across a whole continent and has made millions doing it.
With his voice disguised, the man says: ‘He loves the nice cars, the nice house, he was living the high life, he had money always – $200,000 always under his bed.
‘In one night, he made £500,000. He had 56 passengers, minimum price was £9,000 [pp] for the lorry.’
The third episode of the series unearths how corruption within border control has led Scorpion to a new, more expensive way of reaching British shores.
Another contact says he’s now offering ‘a premier service’, explaining: ‘Barzaan said there’s three modes: business, economic [SIC] and first class.’
Mitchell and Lawrie are left astonished after they speak to an anonymous Iranian man about how he successfully made it to the UK via the ‘premium’ cross-Channel ferry route, touting it as the ‘safest’ way to travel.
The series examines how Majeed, who uses the codename Scorpion, has risen to the top of a criminal empire – putting tens of thousands of migrant lives at risk – after masterminding boat, lorry and ferry Channel crossings
He tells them that he travelled with his wife and father, after paying £18,000 to Scorpion’s gang.
The man says he was told he would be able to board a ferry in Calais right under the noses of the authorities and ‘no-one would stop them’.
He draws a map for Mitchell and Lawrie who then go to Calais to re-trace his steps and see if his story lines up – and they quickly find the electronic gate his family’s journey to England began with.
The exit gate is only ever to be used by staff at the Port of Calais and Scorpion’s gang members tell the family to dress smartly and ‘stride with confidence’, the podcast recounts.
The family were told the gate would open at 8pm and then they should hide in a toilet block for 20 minutes, which they did.
The podcast reveals that Scorpion is now offering a ‘first class’ style service by paying corrupt border control officials in Calais to let migrants through ferry terminals
The Iranian says: ‘We had just 30 seconds, we passed the door and just walked in. When we passed the door I saw the police.’
Lawrie says: ‘You just walked past them?’ The man replies: ‘Yeah, yeah’.
A corrupt official in the Scorpions pay knocked on the door of the toilet block and then proceeded to drive the family on to the ferry, avoiding British passport controls.
Lawrie says: ‘The man was confident enough to invite them out of his car and buy them an English breakfast on the ferry.’
Lawrie and Mitchell then travel to Calais to check out the claims and find the staff exit gate ‘just as he describes’.
‘And on the side of that is the office door that opens up. You can see it there. It’s exactly right. What he says. I mean, put yourself in there. He’s going to walk through all this officialdom,’ Mitchell says.
‘And he’s gotta walk with confidence through that gate and walk towards that door as if it’s gonna open at exactly the right time. I mean, that’s something out of a movie isn’t it?’
The Port of Calais authorities hasn’t commented on the Iranian family’s claims.
The second episode of the series sees Mitchell and Lawrie meet another Iranian family, this time who crossed the Channel in the dead of night on a boat.
They meet them first in Calais as 13-year-old Manna is preparing to make the dangerous crossing with her parents, brother and baby sister Maya.
Journalist Mitchell and volunteer aid worker Lawrie meet Manna, a 13-year-old Iranian girl who travelled to the UK with her father, mother and baby sister on a terrifying nine-hour journey in a dinghy – her sister was given sleeping medication to stop her crying and alerting authorities
Manna tells the journalist and aid worker that they’ve paid £6,000 for the trip, after being told they have a ‘big chance’ of getting to England.
After staying in touch with the family after they do arrive on British soil – to live in a tent before claiming asylum – they recount their terrifying experience crossing the Channel with gun-carrying smugglers.
Barzan Kamal Majeed, 36, pictured, nicknamed ‘Scorpion’, is on the run and received a 10-year jail sentence for people smuggling in his absence at a court in Bruges last month
Manna tells them they boarded an inflatable dinghy carrying 13 adults, including 4 children. With no navigation system, they were blown off course in the pitch black and the journey took nine hours.
Manna is heard saying that her mother gave the baby to the smuggler who fed her ‘a sleeping agent’ so her cries wouldn’t alert border force authorities.
She told the podcast, she was scared of giant waves caused by a passing ferry and that she was praying to god for their safety because it was ‘so cold’.
According to the Home Office, 120,000 people have arrived on UK shores in this way since 2020.
Investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA) have been working with officers in Belgium to track Majeed down and issued a warrant for his arrest in 2022.
The criminal moved to the UK in 2013, living in Nottingham, where he still has connections.
In 2015, he was deported to the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq after being convicted of drug and gun offences.
To catch a Scorpion is available now on BBC Sounds
