A gang of seven people smugglers including a mother and daughter has been jailed for bringing more than a dozen people into the UK using false documents.
The four women and three men, aged between 24 and 51, smuggled at least 14 migrants from the Middle East to the UK, including people from Palestine, Kuwait and Syria.
The seven gang members were sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday.
They were all convicted of conspiring to facilitate unlawful immigration through fraudulent documents, the Home Office’s Criminal and Financial Investigations (CFI) Unit said.
The gang organised 26 flights into the UK, of which 11 resulted in 14 undocumented migrants seeking asylum, three resulted in the facilitators being arrested and 12 were unsuccessful attempts.
Members of the network, which was active across Europe including in Belgium, France and Spain, also carried out two attempts through the border at Coquelles in France and Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands.
Micaiah Marley, 29, of Watford, admitted conspiring to facilitate unlawful immigration through fraudulent documents and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
The other six defendants were all found guilty of the same offence following a trial, the Home Office’s CFI Unit said.
Summary above derived from this News Link -> People smuggling gang put behind bars after being caught at Essex port
