The mastermind of one of Europe’s largest people-smuggling operations is an asylum seeker who lived in a Liverpool hostel, a court was told.

Jamal Owda, 26, helped tens of thousands of Syrians enter the continent via Greece.

The trafficking ring then arranged for the desperate migrants to travel via the Balkans to other EU states, including Britain, France and Germany. Police found evidence the operation made profits of at least £7 million.

'Mastermind': Jamal Owda, 26, helped tens of thousands of Syrians enter the continent via Greece, a court heard

Owda, who claims to be Palestinian, used the hostel as a base while claiming asylum after entering the country in the back of a lorry 18 months ago.

He has pledged to use human rights grounds to fight extradition to Greece, where he faces up to 20 years in prison.

His lawyer said he will apply for legal aid to challenge the move on the grounds that conditions in Greek prisons are inhumane.

Fellow asylum seekers at the Liverpool hostel said he was always flush with money, constantly on his phone, and often seen with Eastern European prostitutes.

When Owda was arrested in a dawn raid, police found £17,500 hidden in a speaker in his room and further evidence of his influence across Europe.

Investigators believe his criminal network was responsible for more than 100 people entering southern Europe every day for at least 16 months – the equivalent of nearly 50,000 migrants. Each person was charged about £1,000.

A volunteer holds up a baby as others help migrants from a dinghy after their arrival from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos

National Crime Agency officers, tipped off by Greek police, tracked Owda down to an asylum centre near Sefton Park, south Liverpool. He had been living in the publicly funded hostel, which is in an affluent area popular with young professionals, for several months.

As Owda was arrested, another 22 suspected gang members, the majority of whom are Greek and Syrian, were held in raids in Greece, Austria and Sweden.

WILL SWEDEN CLOSE BRIDGE LINK? Sweden has drawn up emergency plans that could see it close the bridge leading to Denmark to stop the influx of migrants. The five-mile crossing is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and links southern Sweden with Copenhagen. Sweden has the highest number of migrants per capita of any nation in Europe, but officials say it is now over-stretched. Guards have already started identity checks on those crossing the Oresund bridge, which is the backdrop to the television series The Bridge. Anna Johansson, Sweden’s infrastructure minister, said the proposal was just part of contingency plans to be used only in an emergency, adding: ‘We hope this proposal will not have to be used.’ EU ministers will today discuss the future of the Schengen border-free travel zone at a meeting in Brussels. They will look at a plan that could see checkpoints reintroduced as national borders for up to two years. At the moment they can be restored for only two months in case of an emergency. Advertisement

The gang smuggled migrants, most of them Syrians arriving from Turkey, through Greece and to northern Europe via Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.

The majority of the network’s members are Greek nationals whose work was co-ordinated by an Albanian working in close co-operation with Owda.

The gang, who used social media and online forums to run the operation, also supplied housing and forged travel documents.

It is understood Owda claimed asylum after his arrest in Surrey in May 2014 when he was caught hiding in the back of a lorry which had travelled through Dover. Over the previous three years he had moved across Europe, living in Greece on a student visa and also popping up in Egypt, Libya and Turkey.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he shook his head vigorously as he was asked if he would consent to his extradition. Wearing a black padded jacket and T-shirt, the heavily-built suspect stared intently as he was helped by an Arabic interpreter.

During a short hearing, prosecutor Marinder Dhillon said Owda was accused of ‘managing a criminal organisation’ between July 2014 and November this year.

Mrs Dhillon added: ‘He facilitated the exit of at least 95 people from Greece as well as facilitating five other groups of people of unknown number.

‘He also facilitated the exit, or attempted exit, of another 15 but this failed due to increased police presence. It is said that he was paid at least 1,500 euros per trafficking, potentially illegally making him hundreds of thousands of euros.

‘Due to his recent offending in the last month we say there are fears he will fail to surrender.

‘He was arrested at an immigration hostel housing people in process of going through asylum in the UK. There is no longer a place available for him at the hostel and they do not want him back.’

The trafficking ring arranged for migrants to travel via the Balkans to other EU states, including Britain, France and Germany, a court heard. Migrants are pictured arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos

Owda’s lawyer Lewis Green said he will oppose his extradition on human rights grounds because of the state of Greek prisons.

‘In Greece there has been and continues to be difficulties in Greek prison conditions, in part reflecting the economic situation,’ he said, adding that he will summon an expert from the University of Thessaloniki and Owda will apply for legal aid.

He said: ‘He made an application for asylum in May 2014. He is not working. He is not allowed to work. There are also issues in relation to his mental health.’

He always seemed to have a lot of money

District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe remanded Owda in custody, saying he was linked to a ‘sophisticated operation’ and could try to escape justice.

A man at Owda’s hostel said he regularly saw him bring Russian girls back to his flat and being driven around in black taxis.

The 31-year-old from Sri Lanka added: ‘He always seemed to have a lot of money. He would be picked up to go everywhere in black taxis – he never walked.

‘How could he afford that when we can barely afford to eat?

‘He had a mobile phone and would always bring Russian girls back to his flat, for a few hours at a time.

‘He always wore black, but didn’t speak English, only Arabic.

‘He didn’t really mix with anyone, he was always on his mobile phone.

A migrant stands on a border gate as he and other refugees try to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni

Countries along the migrant route through the Balkans have tightened restrictions on migrants, allowing entry only to those fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq

‘The police came to arrest him a few months ago, but couldn’t find him. He had another place across the city. But they finally caught him – I saw him get taken away.’

In Britain, asylum seekers receive state help as soon as they lodge a claim. They are given somewhere to live – a flat, house, hostel or bed-and-breakfast – and £36.95 a week, intended to buy food, clothes and toiletries. They are also entitled to free NHS care and education for any children.

Graham Roberts, of the National Crime Agency, said Owda was suspected of being the ‘head of an organised crime group’ smuggling ‘100 Syrians a day’.