By Tony O’Reilly-
Two men from East London have been charged with smuggling migrants including minors into the UK in lorries after a National Crime Agency investigation in 2021.
Najib Khan, 38,(pictured) from Ilford was identified as being part of the network after the arrest of his co-conspirator Waqas Ikram, 40, from Dagenham in March 2021.
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Najib Khan of Medici Close, Ilford was found guilty of three charges of conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law. Waqas Ikram, of Beadles Parade, Rainham Road, Dagenham; pleaded guilty to three charges of conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law.
The NCA were made aware of conversations between the pair of a separate smuggling network after a phone was seized, which revealed that Mr Khan which was charging migrants up to £7,000 per person to bring them to the UK.
Ikram was found working for a people smuggling organised crime group (OCG) headed by Md Mokter Hossain when he was arrested.
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Hossain was later jailed for more than 10 years for transporting migrants in lorries in both directions across the Channel following an NCA investigation codenamed Operation Symbolry.
The phone conversations showed that in total, both Khan and Ikram had plotted three crossings. Two were foiled by Border agents and of the three the successful crossing involved five migrants being transported into Harwich in March 2019.
Two failed crossings occurred in May 2019, when 15 Vietnamese and one Afghan migrant were found in a lorry at the Hook of Holland as it prepared to board a ferry to Harwich.
In August of that year, 16 migrants including 11 minors – were rescued from a purpose-built concealment in a lorry carrying 2,000 loose tyres. It was reported that the heat and nature of the concealment would have made breathing difficult, the lorry was preparing to board at Dieppe to Newhaven.
The two lorry drivers involved were later jailed in the Netherlands and France, but the NCA was able to prove Ikram’s crime group had been involved in both attempts.
The conversations between Ikram and Khan also showed they were using GPS trackers to follow lorries they wanted to break into without drivers knowing. The NCA found one of these trackers in his home.
At the time of his arrest, Ikram was working for a people smuggling organised crime group (OCG) headed by Md Mokter Hossain. Hossain was later jailed for more than 10 years for transporting migrants in lorries in both directions across the Channel following an NCA investigation codenamed Operation Symbolry.
Th findings from the two phone conversations was that in total Khan and Ikram had plotted three crossings. Two were foiled by Border agents and of the three the successful crossing involved five migrants being transported into Harwich in March 2019.
NCA branch commander Andy Noyes said that the pair “were only interested in making money” and had “no regard for the safety or security of those they were transporting.”
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