Imprisoned Iraqi goat herder is a parable about Britain’s broken asylum system

Another fugitive, Lukman Jarjis, 21, convicted at a previous hearing, was reportedly sent to Aberystwyth after falling out with county gang members in Birmingham’s large Iraqi-Kurdish community.

He left Iraq as a child, spent time in a UNICEF camp in Greece before ending up in a camp in Calais, from where he crossed the English Channel.

He is currently serving a sentence of four years and three months.

Judge Walters said it was “significant” that only one of the three identified masterminds of the operation, Toana Ahmad, 33, from the West Midlands, had been caught.

Others are believed to have fled to Iraq.

Having been granted indefinite leave after arriving in the UK in 2005, Ahmad is now serving a 12-year term.

And what about the people of Aberystwyth?

Fay Yeomans, 54, runs a cake shop in the small Market Hall shopping arcade near the town’s castle.

“It’s very flashy right now,” she said. “You see people gathering, waiting, then someone pulls up on a bike, and a few minutes later everyone leaves.”

“I’ve been working at this store for the last 10 years and it’s gotten a lot worse in the last two or three years.”

“Drug trafficking at any time”

Meanwhile, Dell Edwards sees drug deals at all hours of the day, enjoying a cigarette from the kitchen window of his first-floor apartment.

The 55-year-old woman briskly slides her open palms one by one, indicating quick transactions between dealers and buyers.

“I’ll see four or five deals every night,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s made me feel pretty insecure about living here.”

Residents of nearby Poplar Road, a known hot spot, were too afraid to give their names to The Telegraph, but described how the gang’s tactics changed after police raided the property they were using to set up.

“A man with a long gray beard would appear on the corner with a knapsack and hand out wrappers to other dealers who rode up and down on their bikes,” said one.

“Sometimes they left hiding places in the bushes in the parking lot.

“It has become very fruitful here, especially in the evenings. I once saw a well-known local businesswoman walk into a car park with two £20 notes. When she saw me, she was stunned.”