Three jailed for smuggling migrants on small boats

Banet Tershana (left), Desmond Rice (middle) and Klodian Shenaj (right) have been jailed

Three men who helped to smuggle migrants across the English Channel in small boats have been jailed.

Albanians Banet Tershana, 52, and Klodian Shenaj, 49, and British national Desmond Rice, 47, orchestrated two crossings from Belgium and France in October 2022, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

They were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.

A fourth man, Jetmir Myrtaj, 35, is due to be sentenced next week.

The smugglers were first spotted offloading migrants from an inflatable boat named Orca in Joss Bay, Kent, by a coastguard plane on 8 October.

The boat had been moored by Myrtaj, also from Albania, at a marina in Brightlingsea, Essex, where he paid for repair work to make the vessel seaworthy.

Myrtaj, of no fixed address, was also seen waiting on the beach as the boat arrived.

Myrtaj is due to be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday

The same location was used for a second crossing on 23 October using another boat called Aquaholic, purchased by Rice.

The NCA said Rice, of Meadowcroft, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and Shenaj, of Broxtowe Street, Nottingham, also moored this boat in Brightlingsea.

A third crossing was attempted on 29 October when Rice gave a kayak to two men to access Aquaholic.

The pair were arrested in Belgium as they attempted to load 12 migrants, including a woman and child, on to the boat.

Only six lifejackets, which were unsuitable for use at sea, were available.

The NCA said these men were being prosecuted in Belgium.

Rice and Shenaj moored the boat called Aquaholic in Brightlingsea

NCA branch commander Derek Evans said: "Tershana was the organiser, financier and collected payment from migrants.

"Shenaj was the conduit between mainland Europe-based facilitators and the UK, and Myrtaj and Rice were integral to facilitating the crossings."

Rice, Myrtaj, Shenaj and Tershana were all arrested between October 2022 and March.

Tershana, of Harmsworth Crescent, Hove, East Sussex, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assisting unlawful immigration and was jailed for five years.

Rice, Shenaj and Myrtaj all pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to the UK.

Rice was jailed for four years and six months, and Shenaj for four years and nine months.

Myrtaj is due to be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

A fifth man believed to be connected to the smuggling network is thought to have fled abroad.