A criminal collective that transported migrants from the UK to France in trucks argued that they “were merely performing the Government’s role for them by moving migrants out of Britain into France”, according to court proceedings.
Seven individuals from the London-based group received collective sentences of 70 years for making nearly 20 trips from Dover to Calais from February to October 2023.
This situation is a unique example of reverse Channel crossings, with individuals being moved from Britain back to France.
Rebecca Austin, the prosecutor, stated the group professed they “were simply fulfilling the Government’s responsibilities by transporting migrants out of Britain to France”.
She elaborated: “The defendants asserted their actions were effectively removing migrants from Britain.”
“However, these defendants’ actions were far from removing migrants. They created a market where people would enter Britain with the specific intent to illegally traverse the Channel.”
The mastermind Azize Benaniba, a 41-year-old Algerian, was sentenced to nearly 13 years by Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh.
Judge Curtis-Raleigh remarked: “This was a profoundly serious conspiracy aiding unlawful immigration to a member state. This was an enduring conspiracy over eight months, involving 20 occurrences.”
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The group charged each migrant £1,200 for the trip, with children as young as five among those smuggled in trucks.
Videos captured children crying, believing they were being taken to their demise.
Some trucks used were unrefrigerated and hermetic, posing severe risks of overheating and suffocation for those concealed inside.
The migrants, primarily from French-speaking North African nations, had entered Britain on tourist visas allowing stays of up to six months.
They were then crammed into trucks at locations near Dover before being moved across the Channel to Calais, where they apparently hoped to settle
They were then crammed into trucks at locations near Dover before being moved across the Channel to Calais, where they apparently hoped to settle.
The gang’s operations began to unravel on February 21, 2023, when French border police discovered 58 migrants hidden in a truck at Calais after arriving from the UK, sparking an NCA investigation.
On September 6, 2023, officers intervened to rescue 39 migrants, including women and children, who had been loaded into an airtight refrigerated truck trailer at a lay-by in Sandwich, Kent.
Some required medical attention, including a child.
The gang members were apprehended during coordinated dawn raids across north London on March 20 last year
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