A smuggling network styling itself the “Kings of the Jungle” has been exposed, boasting of guaranteed Channel crossings and mocking the UK asylum system in a brazen online recruitment campaign, according to an undercover investigation.
The alleged ringleader, Abu Hussein al-Iraqi, is said to operate a network spanning Iraq, France and the UK, using social media platforms to advertise regular small-boat crossings and reassure migrants that once they reach Britain, they will not be removed.
In repeatedly circulated videos and messages, he tells prospective customers: “There is no deportation,” adding in one exchange: “Just come to me and consider yourself already in Britain.”
The claims were made during undercover reporting in which a journalist posed as a migrant seeking passage across the Channel.
Al-Iraqi, who presents himself online as operating from the “Jungle” camp in Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk, allegedly told migrants that boats depart weekly and are packed with up to 75 people paying around £900 per crossing, the Express reported.
He is also accused of encouraging migrants to exploit what he describes as loopholes in the UK asylum system, including advising some to claim to be members of the Bidoon community — a stateless group from Kuwait — amid a reported rise in such claims in recent years.
The number of asylum applications citing statelessness has risen sharply over the past decade, with officials increasingly concerned about how such claims are assessed and verified.
In one exchange, the smuggler claimed: “The coastguards’ job is to protect you. They’ll go out with you to protect you until you reach the UK,” in a statement that appears designed to reassure migrants attempting dangerous sea crossings.
He also boasted of successful arrivals, claiming some migrants were already in UK hotels awaiting asylum decisions after being transported across the Channel.
The operation is said to be heavily promoted on TikTok, where videos advertise “weekly trips” and include footage of migrant camps in northern France, with claims that “everyone is going to London”.
The network also allegedly offers incentives to encourage crossings, including promises of replacement journeys if initial attempts fail, and promotes so-called “testimonials” from individuals said to have reached the UK successfully.
In further claims, associates of the gang say they can facilitate forged documentation, including fake Schengen visas supported by fabricated financial records, rental agreements and property ownership evidence.
One associate allegedly said: “We’ll give you all the fake evidence… we’ll get you a bank account with $50,000.”
The alleged organiser, when confronted by the Telegraph, denied involvement in people smuggling, claiming instead to run a coffee shop and insisting the videos were misunderstood.
“I only post videos, I don’t do anything,” he said.
His associate also denied involvement, saying: “You’re lying. I don’t know anything.”
A TikTok spokesperson said accounts linked to the network had been removed for breaching rules against human smuggling.
French authorities have now launched an investigation, with the Office for the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants (OLTIM) instructed to examine the allegations, according to local officials in Pas-de-Calais.
Officials said inquiries were ongoing into the network’s activities, which appear to form part of a wider ecosystem of smuggling operations along the northern French coast.
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