A number of British Asian men have been found guilty of being part of an organised crime group linked to what UK authorities said was a prolific people smuggling racket.
Najib Khan, 38, was identified as being part of the network by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and convicted of three counts of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration at the end of a trial at Reading Crown Court on Friday.
He was caught following the arrest of a co-conspirator, Waqas Ikram, 40, who had pleaded guilty to the charge earlier.
At the time of his arrest, Ikram was working for a people-smuggling gang headed by one Mohammed Mokter Hossain, who was later jailed for more than 10 years for transporting migrants in lorries in both directions across the English Channel following an NCA investigation codenamed Operation Symbolry.
“Ikram and Khan had no regard for the safety and security of those they were transporting, they were only interested in making money from them,” said NCA branch commander Andy Noyes.
“In at least one case it was only the fact that the migrants were discovered by border agents that prevented them from being left in what could have been an incredibly dangerous, and potentially fatal, situation. They then moved their attention to obtaining boats, but fortunately, we were able to stop them before their plans progressed,” he said.
The NCA said an iPhone belonging to Ikram, seized following his arrest, contained numerous conversations with Khan outlining their involvement in a separate people smuggling network, charging migrants up to GBP 7,000 a head to bring them to the UK.
Phone evidence showed that the two had been involved in a successful crossing involving five migrants being transported in March 2019, and two other attempts that had been foiled by border agents.
The first of these involved 15 Vietnamese and one Afghan migrant found in a lorry at the Hook of Holland as it prepared to board a ferry to the coastal England town of Harwich.
And in August that same year, 16 migrants including 11 minors were rescued from a purpose-built concealment in a lorry carrying 2,000 loose tyres.
The lorry was preparing to board a ferry from Dieppe in France to Newhaven in England and officers reported the heat and the nature of the concealment made breathing difficult.
The lorry drivers involved in both would later be jailed in the Netherlands and France, but the NCA said it was able to prove Ikram’s gang had been involved in both attempts.
Further conversations between Khan and Ikram showed they were using GPS trackers to follow lorries that they had arranged to be broken into without drivers’ knowledge to stow migrants. One of the trackers was found at Khan’s house when he was arrested by the NCA.
In 2020, Khan and Ikram purchased a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) for the purpose of smuggling migrants, and Ikram attended a course for piloting powerboats.
The pair were encountered by the UK Border Force in July of that year off the coast of Suffolk in their RHIB. They told officers they were scouting for scuba diving sites, and returned to Walton-on-the-Naze.
Ikram was arrested by the NCA for his role in Operation Symbolry in 2021 and charged with people smuggling offences.
Both he and Khan were detained in connection with further offences by the NCA in July 2022 and charged with three counts of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration.
“Tackling people smuggling is a priority for the NCA, and we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the organised crime groups involved,” added Noyes.
Khan and Ikram will be sentenced at the end of October.