Zada, known by those he tried to smuggle as Amanj Zaman, sometimes used videos of him being thanked by those he had previously helped, the NCA said.
One showed a group of men on a boat to Italy praising him.
Another, thought to have been recorded in Iraq in 2021, showed Zada at a party with musicians singing a song in Kurdish praising him as “the best smuggler”, saying “all the other smugglers have learned from him” while he throws cash at them and fires a gun into the air in celebration.
Back in the UK, NCA officers were able to record conversations Zada had with other smugglers, discussing movements of migrants, locations and successful crossings.
Zada, of Stefano Road, was ultimately arrested in May and his phone was seized.
Analysis showed it was linked to a number of social media accounts used to post material, and phone numbers advertised on them.
He had also had direct contact with some of the migrants who had come to the UK in 2023.
