Two men have been jailed for trying to smuggle a group of migrants out of the UK.
Houcine Argoub, 32, from Bromley, south east London and Jamal Elkhadir, 47, from Morocco were part of a criminal enterprise planning smuggle the 39 people, including a six-year-old boy, into France.
The two men were being watched by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers when they met in a layby near Sandwich, Kent, in September 2023.
Argoub, who was driving a van, parked close to Elkhadir’s Moroccan registered HGV and a number of people were seen to exit the van and climb into the back of the lorry.
NCA officers intercepted the lorry when it arrived at the docks in Dover and discovered 39 Algerian and Morrocan migrants inside.
The doors could not be opened from the inside, leaving the migrants reliant on others if they needed to get out.
Police arrested Elkhadirat the docks on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration and Argoub was arrested at his home address for the same offence in November 2023.
Elkhadir claimed he had been delivering cherry tomatoes to three businesses in the UK and had stopped for a rest breakin the layby with the doors unlocked, suggesting the migrants could have jumped in when he wasn’t looking.
He then changed his story and said he’d been threatened at gunpoint and told to take the migrants to France.
But on Wednesday, both Elkhadir and Argoub appeared at Canterbury Crown Courtand pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration.
Elkhadir was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail, while Argoub received a prison sentence of five years and three months.
NCA operations manager John Turner said: ‘Elkhadir and Argoub were partners in this criminal enterprise to move migrants through the UK and smuggle them to France.
‘Their only concerns were about the money they were making and how they could avoid detection, not for the safety of those hiding in the back of the HGV.
‘This form of criminality not only puts people at risk, it also threatens the border security of both the UK and France, which is why the NCA works closely with partners here and overseas to tackle those facilitating illegal migrants in each direction.
‘The same criminals who take people out of the UK illegally often bring them in too, which is why we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the networks involved in people smuggling.’
In 2023, a smuggler was jailed for deaths of 39 migrants who suffocated in sealed lorry.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : I faced the death penalty because I was gay, but I was unsafe in Britain too
MORE : Girl, seven, who drowned trying to cross the Channel with her family pictured
MORE : I’m a stranger to my children – until my wife earns £29,000
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.