English channel migrant smuggler told to pay back £138k

Leonard Powell must pay back almost £138,000 he received through smuggling Albanians into the UK

The ringleader of a gang that used small boats to smuggle Albanian migrants across the English Channel has been ordered told to pay back £138,000.

Leonard Powell made more than £268,000 off the back of his people-smuggling operations.

The 68-year-old was jailed for nine years in September 2018 following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

A judge at the Old Bailey made the confiscation order on Monday.

Powell, from Farningham, Kent, was convicted of conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law along with his 40-year-old son Alfie and five other men after a nine-week trial.

One of the boats used by Powell was intercepted in the Channel

The trial heard how NCA officers had found the Powell family were working with Albanian criminals Artur Nutaj and Saba Dulaj.

The pair had taken on the role of "travel agents", organising the smuggling of Albanian migrants into the UK from the north coast of France.

In May 2016 a boat got into difficulty had to be rescued by Border Force, the RNLI and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

NCA investigators moved in to arrest the gang after they bought a jet-ski, which they planned to use in further smuggling runs.

A judge ruled that Powell has benefitted from his criminal activity to the sum of £268,294 but that he had available assets of £137,810.

'Forfeit wealth'

If he fails to pay up within six months he will receive an extra two years on his sentence, and will still owe the money.

Mark McCormack, NCA Branch Commander, said: "These confiscation orders will help to ensure they forfeit their wealth as well as their liberty. Not paying will keep them behind bars for longer, and the money owed would still hang over their heads."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].