People-smugglers jailed but two remain on the run

Gang leader Mohammed Zada, who is currently on the run, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court in his absence

Members of a Teesside-based gang, who exploited "desperate" people by smuggling them into the UK, have been sent to jail.

Led by 43-year-old Mohammed Zada, the gang of six charged between £5,000-£10,000, to bring migrants from Europe hidden in vans and lorries, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Zada and his associate Marek Sochanic, 39, were sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court in their absence, having absconded before the trial; two others were jailed on Friday.

Judge Christopher Prince said the gang's plans, which included sealing "vulnerable" people, including children, inside refrigerated lorries, were "clearly extremely dangerous".

The NCA said it believed the gang was responsible for smuggling hundreds of migrants into the UK illegally.

Judge Prince stated Zada, alone, had organised the transport of 36 people.

Martin Clarke, NCA branch commander, said the gang "fed on the desperation of the people and never cared for their safety".

"All they were interested in was making money."

Mr Clarke said the NCA would "seek to bring [Zada and Sochanic] back to the UK and put them behind bars".

Marek Sochanic is still being hunted by the authorities

The agency began monitoring the gang's movements in 2017, following them as they picked up migrants in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

The people were hidden in the back of vans and lorries - underneath boxes, food and mattresses, the NCA said.

On one occasion, young Vietnamese children were part of a group about to be loaded into a refrigerated trailer - before the people-smugglers were stopped.

Pareiz Abdullah and Gurprit Kahlon Singh were also jailed for their involvement

Zada was secretly filmed by the NCA inspecting a campervan in which he intended to transport people from France.

Video footage found on his phone showed him drawing a picture, explaining how they should be loaded into lorries.

Key members of the network were arrested in a series of police raids in February 2018.

Zada, of Applecross Grove in Wynyard, Stockton, and five other men, were found guilty of people-smuggling offences after a six-week trial in Newcastle.

Prosecutor Alex Leach KC said Zada orchestrated the scheme, which operated between March-June 2017 and involved transporting people, including children, often in "extremely dangerous circumstances".

Sochanic liaised with his father, Milan Sochanic, who has been prosecuted in France for his involvement, to bring migrants across the Channel to Maidstone hidden in their van, Mr Leach said.

Zada was jailed for 20 years, while Sochanic, of Leyburn Street in Hartlepool, was jailed for six years.

Khalid Mahmud and Beston Moslih will be sentenced at a later date

Co-defendants Bestoon Moslih, 41, and Khaled Mahmud, 50, concealed people among fruit and vegetables in a refrigerated lorry, the court heard.

Gurprit Kahlon Singh, 67, arranged for his relatives to collect and hide the migrants in a campervan, as well as arranging the smuggling of people into the UK in a van used to transport bikes, Mr Leach said.

Pareiz Abdullah, 41, organised for seven migrants to be smuggled into the UK in the back of a mattress delivery van, the court heard.

'Terrible tragedies'

Abdullah, of Allensway in Thornaby, and Kahlon Singh, of Stainton Grange in Stainton, Middlesbrough, were jailed for six years and seven years respectively.

Mahmud, of Magdalene Evans Court in Lambeth, London, and Moslih, of Tulip Close in Stockton, will be sentenced at a later date.

Judge Prince said the "professional people-smugglers" had stood to make considerable "financial gain", but their plans posed "extreme or significant risk" to the "vulnerable" people hidden in "tight, concealed spaces".

He said delays could lead to "deprivation of food and water", and people could overheat or freeze while trapped in a vehicle, resulting in "terrible tragedies".

The judge also noted the hiding places could collapse, people could be crushed by the other contents in the vehicle, or seriously injured or killed in the event of a crash, with emergency services unaware they may even be there.

He described Zada as the "prime mover" but said all six played an "important part" in putting others at risk, and any one of them could have "prevented such danger from arising had they been pricked by their conscience".