The fugitive ‘people smuggler’ wanted over football club fraud

The suspected ring-leader of a people-smuggling gang is also wanted over a construction fraud at Heart of Midlothian Football Club, the BBC can reveal.

Goran Assad Jalal was charged in 2017 over a fraud committed against the Scottish Premiership side – worth more £85,000 – but has never stood trial.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old is being sought by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over his alleged role as the mastermind in a criminal operation to smuggle Kurdish people into the UK.

The BBC understands authorities believe Jalal – a British national of Kurdish origin – is currently at large in Iraq.

In July, the UK government placed Jalal, who lived in Bradford, on a list of criminals subject to financial sanctions.

The Crown Office said his case in Scotland remains active, while the NCA said officers “will not rest” until he is in custody.

Hearts said it had since managed to recoup the money.

Hearts confirmed it was the victim of an “internet fraud” in mid-2017. It followed a similar case of fraud at Hamilton Academical FC that same year.

In December 2017, police confirmed a man had been arrested and charged over the Hearts allegations.

Jalal was indicted for fraud and proceeds of crime offences in 2020.

The allegations centre on claims Jalal had illegally accessed a computer owned by an engineering business and tricked Hearts into paying him money owed to the company.

The first charge on an indictment, seen by the BBC, alleges Jalal had targeted the Edinburgh club through its dealings with BSB Structural, a construction company based in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

At the time, the company was nearing the end of a rebuild of the club’s main stand at Tynecastle stadium – erecting a 120-metre steel beam and steelworks to allow for 2,000 more seats.

The indictment states that between July and August 2017, while acting with unknown others, Jalal “caused a virus to be applied to a laptop computer belonging to BSB Structural Ltd, which allowed sensitive information to be viewed feloniously”.

Prosecutors allege he then pretended to Heart of Midlothian PLC that BSB had changed its banking details. BSB was owed £85,007.29 by the club.

“You did thus induce said members of staff to amend BSB Structural Ltd account details,” the indictment continues, “and thus you did induce said Heart of Midlothian PLC to make payment… into a bank account in your name.”

Jalal faces two further charges under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The first alleges he had obtained “criminal property” as a result of a fraud committed against Hearts.

The second alleges Jalal went on to “conceal, disguise, convert and transfer” criminal property by moving more than £57,000 into accounts held at various bank branches across Yorkshire, as well as “purchase electrical items and other goods and services”.

While the indictment against Jalal was filed in 2020, he has never stood trial

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “As the matter remains subject to legal proceedings, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific details.”

BSB Structural declined to comment. There is no suggestion it had any involvement in or knowledge of Jalal’s alleged activities.

A statement from Hearts confirmed the club was the victim of an online fraud in 2017.

It said: “Working with the authorities, the club was able to recoup monies stolen.

“Whilst the club did receive periodical updates in relation to the matter in 2018 and 2019, no such updates have been received since then and the club considers the matter closed until told otherwise.”

Sixteen months after his arrest for the Hearts fraud, Jalal was once again apprehended by authorities – this time as the suspected leader of a people-smuggling operation.

Members of the gang were arrested in March 2019 after a four-year investigation into their activities at Portsmouth International Port.

NCA officers intercepted a lorry travelling from France carrying frozen spinach.

In its trailer, they found two teenage siblings from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In the cab, officers also found £34,500 in cash.

Officers then pieced together the conspiracy following phone seizures, identifying two previous smuggling trips bringing in 10 to 12 people in early 2019.

Car wash owner Jalal was identified as a suspect, arrested and bailed pending trial.

Five members of the gang were convicted of a number of related offences and jailed for a total of 24 years in 2023.

A sixth member – Hemin Ali Salih – absconded but was convicted in his absence and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

Jalal also absconded before trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

At a Court of Appeal hearing in 2024, the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Baker, heard claims from one of Jalal’s alleged co-conspirators that the Bradford man was a “very controlling individual” who was in charge of the operation.

In his summary, Mr Justice Baker stated that trial Judge William Mousley KC had sentenced the gang “on the basis that a man called Goran Jalal… was the leading figure in the conspiracy”.

He added: “On the evidence at trial, the people-smuggling operation appeared to have been Jalal’s operation but to-date he has escaped prosecution”

The siblings found were later granted asylum, the court heard.

The NCA has confirmed it is still hunting Jalal.

NCA Branch Commander Richard Harrison said: “People smugglers risk lives, which is why targeting them is a priority for the NCA and we are doing all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved.

“The men convicted and sentenced put profit ahead of people. They were happy to put vulnerable migrants into the backs of lorries for long Channel sea crossings, and I’m delighted they are now behind bars.

“But Goran Jalal and Hemin Ali Salih both remain at large. Warrants have been issued for their arrests, and we will not rest until they are in custody.”

It states: “He facilitated the unlawful arrival of persons into the United Kingdom who were not United Kingdom nationals nor permanent residents… with a view to obtaining a benefit for himself, namely money.”

Speaking when the sanctions were announced, the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the measures as a “landmark moment”.

He added: “From Europe to Asia we are taking the fight to the people-smugglers who enable irregular migration, targeting them wherever they are in the world and making them pay for their actions.

“My message to the gangs who callously risk vulnerable lives for profit is this: we know who you are, and we will work with our partners around the world to hold you to account.”