Jury sworn in for two men accused of people smuggling

A jury has been sworn in at Cardiff Crown Court for the trial of two men accused of smuggling illegal migrants across Europe.

Dilshad Shamo, 41, and Ali Khdir, 40, are accused of unlawfully moving hundreds of people through Europe, by arranging the movement of migrants in boats, HGVs and cars from Iraq, Iran and Syria.

Caerphilly

The pair, whose addresses were previously given as Pontygwindy Road, Caerphilly, stood in the dock as 14 jurors – seven women and seven men – were sworn in on Monday.

The jury will be reduced to 12 when the trial gets under way.

At a hearing last week, Shamo and Khdir denied five counts of conspiring to breach migration laws in Italy, Romania, Croatia and Germany to bring people into an EU country.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between September 2022 and April 2023.

The prosecution alleges Shamo and Khdir were working with other people unknown to breach or attempt to breach immigration law.

The trial continues.