Harwich: Men convicted over 69 Albanian migrants found on boat

Artuas Jusas, Igor Koysi and Sergejs Kuliss (top left to right), and Alexandrs Gulpe and Kfir Ivgi (bottom left to right) were convicted

Four men have been found guilty of trying to smuggle 69 Albanian nationals into the UK.

The Svanic - a 30m (98ft) converted fishing trawler - was intercepted off the Norfolk coast by Border Force last November and taken to Harwich, Essex, where the migrants were discovered.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the boat had spent 14 hours at sea from Belgium.

Kfir Ivgi, 32, Sergejs Kuliss, 39, Alexandrs Gulpe, 44, and Igor Koysi, 56, were convicted by a jury.

A fifth man, Volodymyr Mykhailov, was cleared.

The trawler Svanic was intercepted by border force officials on 17 November last year

The court heard the boat was intercepted with the help of coastguards as it approached Great Yarmouth.

It was then escorted to the port of Harwich, where 69 people were found crammed in the hold of the vessel.

Authorities were first alerted to the people-smuggling operation after reports of suspicious activity when the vessel ran aground off the coast of Sweden 15 days earlier.

In an investigation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and involving Essex Police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force, three crew members on board were arrested.

Three other men were detained in raids carried out by the NCA in June.

The Svanic was intercepted near Great Yarmouth - and 69 migrants were found on board

Each were charged with conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration under Section 25 Of The Immigration Act 1971.

A sixth defendant, Artuas Jusas, 35, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Latvian national Gulpe was found guilty by a unanimous verdict, with Ukrainian national Kosyi by a majority verdict of 10 jurors to two.

Ivgi, of Corrigan Close, Finchley, and Kuliss, of Albert Basin Way, Newham, London, were both found guilty by unanimous verdicts. Prosecutors described them as "UK-based organisers", along with Jusas, 35, of Wandsworth Road, Lambeth.

Sentencing will take place at a later date.