A criminal network that smuggled migrants from Britain to France in lorries has been sentenced to a combined 70 years in prison, with the gang claiming they were “simply doing the Government’s job” by removing migrants from the UK. The seven-member London-based operation conducted up to 20 smuggling runs from Dover to Calais between February and October 2023, charging desperate migrants £1,200 each for the perilous journey.
Ringleader Azize Benaniba, 41, an Algerian national from Willesden Lane in north London, was jailed for 12 years and 11 months at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday. Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh described it as “an extremely serious conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to a member state” that operated as “a long-lived conspiracy over eight months, encompassing 20 events.
The gang’s cynical defence that they were helping the government by transporting migrants out of Britain was dismissed by prosecutor Rebecca Austin, who told the court: “The defendants claimed their actions were somehow removing migrants from Britain. But these defendants’ actions were far from removing migrants. They created an industry where people would come to Britain in order to illegally cross the Channel.”
Children Among Those Risking Death
The criminal network showed callous disregard for human life, cramming hundreds of migrants, including children as young as five, into refrigerated and unrefrigerated lorry trailers. Videos recovered from gang members’ phones captured the terror of those trapped inside, with children screaming and migrants banging on the sides of trailers, believing they were being sent to their deaths.
The operation targeted migrants from French-speaking North African countries who had entered the UK on tourist visas. These individuals, desperate to reach France where they hoped to settle, paid up to £1,200 each to be smuggled across the Channel in conditions that posed severe risks of suffocation and overheating.
Some of the lorries used were unrefrigerated and airtight, creating potentially fatal conditions for those hidden inside. The migrants were packed into vehicles at locations near Dover before attempting the crossing to Calais, reversing the typical direction of Channel smuggling operations.
Near-Fatal Incident Exposes Operation
The gang’s activities began to unravel following a series of increasingly dangerous attempts. On 21 February 2023, French border police discovered 58 migrants hidden inside a lorry at Calais after it arrived from the UK, prompting the National Crime Agency to launch a major investigation.
The most serious incident occurred on 6 September 2023, when NCA officers intervened to rescue 39 migrants, including women and children, who had been loaded into an airtight refrigerated lorry trailer at a lay-by in Sandwich, Kent. The intervention likely prevented multiple deaths, with several migrants requiring immediate medical attention, including a child who was treated at the scene.
“These smugglers had no care for the safety or well-being of the people they crammed into lorry trailers – their only concern was making money,” said John Turner, the NCA’s senior investigating officer. We’ve seen the fatal consequences of this crime type, as migrants have sadly lost their lives being smuggled across borders on land and at sea.
Sophisticated Criminal Network
The operation involved a highly organised structure with clearly defined roles. Benaniba led the network, while his lieutenants – Mahmoud Haidous, 52, Abed Karouz, 30, Amor Ghabbari, 32, and Mohamed Abdelhadi, 50 – organised the runs and hired willing drivers. Mohamed Bouriche, 43, served as the network’s facilitator, responsible for transporting people to rendezvous locations where they would be transferred into lorries.
When officers searched Benaniba’s home in Kilburn, they discovered multiple fake French passports and identity cards. Haidous’s Islington residence yielded further fake French driving licences, a Belgian identity card, and an Irish passport, highlighting the gang’s sophisticated document forgery operation.
NCA surveillance teams successfully intercepted multiple smuggling attempts, rescuing migrants hidden inside lorries as they travelled towards the UK border and arresting complicit drivers. Videos found on gang member Mohamed Bechkit’s phone showed migrants trapped inside trailers, desperately banging on the sides while screaming and crying for assistance.
Coordinated Dawn Raids
The investigation culminated in coordinated dawn raids across north London on 20 March 2024, when key members of the organised crime group were arrested. By this point, the NCA had identified members at all levels of the operation, from the ringleaders to the drivers willing to risk lives for profit.
Haidous received the longest sentence after Benaniba, being jailed for 13 years and six months. The other sentences handed down were: Bechkit, 10 years and four months; Ghabbari, nine years; Karouz, eight years and 10 months; Bouriche, seven years and six months; and Abdelhadi, seven years and three months.
Five lorry drivers and two additional facilitators had previously been sentenced for their roles, receiving jail terms ranging from 22 months to six years and nine months. Among them was Russian national Nikolai Kuznetsov, 39, who was jailed for four years after pleading guilty.
Rare Reverse Trafficking Route
The operation represents an unusual reversal of typical Channel crossing patterns, with migrants being smuggled from the UK to France rather than the conventional route. According to data from the Hauts-de-France prefecture, 93 migrants were arrested for illegal crossings from the UK to France last year, highlighting the relatively rare nature of such operations.
Turner emphasised the interconnected nature of smuggling networks, stating: “These criminal networks treat human beings like commodities, and we know the gangs and drivers involved in outbound smuggling are often involved in inbound smuggling too.”
The gang’s activities generated substantial criminal profits, with investigators estimating they would have raised more than £500,000 from the 157 migrants who were intercepted during the operation. The true number of those successfully smuggled may be significantly higher.
Prosecution Highlights Inhumane Conditions
Crown Prosecution Service specialist prosecutor Janine Baugh presented harrowing evidence to the court, including video footage of migrants screaming to be let out of a trailer. “This was a highly organised group which tried to smuggle migrants to France more than 20 times,” she said. “They put the lives of people at risk – often in inhumane conditions – just to profit off others.”
The prosecution detailed how the gang exploited vulnerable individuals, many of whom had already undertaken dangerous journeys to reach the UK. The network’s claim to be assisting government immigration policy was exposed as a cynical attempt to justify their criminal enterprise.
The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work with our partners at home and overseas and play a vital role in the Border Security Command in order to bring those involved in organised immigration crime to justice,” Baugh added.
Government Response
The case comes as the UK government has allocated £3.23 million in additional funding to the Crown Prosecution Service to increase capacity for work on the Border Security Command. The investment will allow recruitment of additional staff in areas at the frontline of combating organised immigration crime.
Turner stressed that tackling such networks remains “a key priority for the NCA”, adding: “Alongside our international law enforcement partners, we are relentless in our efforts to dismantle these networks wherever they operate.
The successful prosecution has safeguarded hundreds of migrants who were put in serious danger and dismantled what prosecutors described as a “prolific people-smuggling network” that showed complete disregard for human life in pursuit of criminal profits.
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