Two jailed for trying to smuggle migrants out of UK

A child was among 39 migrants found in the back of this lorry

Two men have been jailed for a total of 12 years for trying to smuggle migrants out of the UK in a refrigerated lorry.

A six-year-old boy was among 39 people found in the back of the lorry when it was stopped by police at Dover docks, Kent, on 6 September.

Driver Jamal Elkhadir, 47, from Morocco, and Houcine Argoub, 32, from Bromley, pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration.

National Crime Agency (NCA) operations manager John Turner said the pair had “no concern for the safety” of the migrants.

Arrested at docks

NCA officers watched as Argoub parked a van close to Elkhadir’s lorry in a layby near Sandwich. People got out of the back of the van and into the refrigerated lorry.

The HGV, which could only be opened from the outside, was stopped by officers when it arrived at Dover port.

All those inside were Algerian or Moroccan, the NCA said.

Elkhadir was arrested at the docks on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.

He claimed he had been delivering tomatoes to the UK and had stopped for a break with the doors unlocked in the layby.

He later said he had been threatened at gunpoint to transport migrants to France.

Elkhadir, left, and Argoub have been jailed for a total of 12 years

Argoub was arrested in Bromley for the same offence in November 2023.

The pair pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration at Canterbury Crown Court on 13 March.

Elkhadir was jailed for six years and nine months and Argoub received a prison sentence of five years and three months.

Mr Turner said: “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.

“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the networks involved in people smuggling."

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