Three suspected people smugglers have been arrested in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in a ground-breaking operation involving officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency. It is the first time that the NCA has worked alongside the internal security agencies in Kurdistan,

Alleged accomplices of Amanj Hassan Zada, who described himself as the "best smuggler" were detained in a "landmark operation" in Kurdistan, the National Crime Agency said.

National Crime Agency officers were deployed to Iraq to assist with the arrests in the first operation of its kind.

The three men were linked to the same network as Amanj Hassan Zada, a Preston based smuggler who was jailed for 17 years