London people traffickers jailed after attempting to smuggle Indian migrants into UK
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Two Londoners were on Tuesday jailed after attempting to smuggle Indian migrants crammed in a hidden van compartment into the UK. Shafaz Khan, from Feltham, and Choudhry Rashied, from Southall, hid four people behind a stack of dirty tyres and attempted to bring them into Britain illegally.
When they were stopped by Border Force at Newhaven Ferry Port in March 2019, Khan told officers that they were travelling back after a trip to Belgium. But a search of their vehicle uncovered a group of migrants hidden in dangerous, squalid conditions in a cabin behind the heavy tyres with no access to clean air.
A Home Office investigation revealed that they had hired the van to smuggle the Indian nationals into Britain. Phone analysis showed the gang had assigned “burner” phones to each other to help conceal their crimes, whilst CCTV traced the pair to a local cafe where they met to plan the trafficking.
At Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday, both were sentenced to five years and three months in prison each for facilitating a breach of UK immigration law. Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: “This case displays the lengths people smugglers will go to to disguise their criminal activity.
“These smugglers exploited a group of individuals by putting them into an unsafe and unlawful situation for their own financial gain. "Our skilled investigators are working tirelessly to protect our borders as part of our Plan for Change and that starts with dismantling the people smuggling networks who put lives at risk and undermine our border security.
