Man jailed for assisting human smuggling operation

Eimear Dodd

A man has been jailed after he itted assisting six people in entering the state as part of a human smuggling operation.

Faleh Al Anisi (52) arrived at Dublin Airport after travelling from Lisbon on May 24th, 2024.

At immigration and following advanced immigration checks, he handed over his British port, and officers noticed he was originally from Kuwait.

He was allowed to proceed into the main hall. Later, a family from Kuwait – three adults and three children – presented at immigration and requested international protection.

They had no documents and had arrived on the same flight from Lisbon as Al Anisi.

He agreed to return to the customs area and told officials he had flown from London to Lisbon the day before, then onto Dublin several hours later.

Al Anisi told officials he had gone to Lisbon for a holiday, but found it too hot and too expensive so he decided instead to go to Dublin.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence that officials didn't consider this to be a plausible explanation.

A member of the flight crew later handed immigration officials a set of Dutch and French ports with the bio pages – which contain the photos and personal information, removed.

Al Anisi said he'd met an unknown man in Lisbon who asked him to carry a brown paper bag to Dublin, which he'd agreed to do. He said he didn't know what was in the bag, and the unknown male was due to collect it in London.

Al Anisi didn't have a return flight booked for London, with the investigating garda giving evidence that it is believed he intended to travel back via Northern Ireland.

This paper bag contained the genuine ports of the six individuals, the court heard. One member of this family unit said he paid smugglers €4,000 to travel to Europe.

Al Anisi, of no fixed abode in the UK, pleaded guilty to three counts of assisting the entry into the state of a person in breach of Section 5 of the Immigration Act 2004. He has no previous convictions.

The court also heard evidence of Whatsapp exchanges found on Al Anisi's phone. In one exchange, a male booked his flight to Lisbon and asked for updates.

In another thread of messages, Al Anisi described making between €2,000 and €3,000 per trip to another individual.

The investigating garda said it is believed that the family have since travelled to the UK.

He expressed the view that Al Anisi's role was low to mid-range in the organisation and that his job was to lead the family, telling the court that some of the people involved may never have been on an airplane before.

Defence counsel told the court Al Anisi has been resident in the UK since 2016 and was working there until he suffered two strokes and other health issues.

He has four children, and his wife and family are still based in the UK. Counsel said his client was facing financial difficulties and this was the first time he was approached to do this.

Al Anisi has had two further strokes while in custody and has limited English skills. Medical reports and a letter from his wife were handed to the court.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that it is accepted that the family's “ambition was probably to go to the UK” and “this man’s role was to help them and lead them to that ambition”.

He noted the evidence that Al Anisi was in the low to middle level of the people smuggling operation. The judge said he had taken into Al Anisi's early guilty pleas and health issues, and that his time in an Irish prison will be more difficult as a foreign national.

The judge imposed a sentence of two and half years backdated to May 24th, 2024, when Al Anisi went into custody.