Alex Leach KC and Marianne Alton, instructed by the CPS Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate, have delivered the convictions of six men indicted with high-level people smuggling offences.
The lead defendant, Mohammed Zada, masterminded a series of people trafficking conspiracies, the most serious of which involved the smuggling of migrants, five of whom were children, in the back of a refrigerated lorry. The defendants engaged in this highly dangerous people trafficking method for very considerable financial gain.
Two defendants entered guilty pleas at the outset of the trial, the remainder were convicted following a seven-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
The case involved consideration of around 10,000 pages of served evidence, and arose out of a cross jurisdictional investigation between the UK’s National Crime Agency (‘NCA’) and Dutch, Belgium and French law enforcement.
Martin Clarke, NCA Branch Commander, said: “Our extensive investigation has seen us uncover and dismantle a major people smuggling network with ambitions of bringing hundreds, if not thousands, of people into the UK illegally. This result is testament to the successful partnership working of the NCA, law enforcement agencies on the continent and UK regional police forces. Zada and his organised crime group didn’t care about safety and wellbeing of the human beings they were trafficking. They were willing to put them in dangerous environments like refrigerated lorries, all for a quick payday. We continue to work tirelessly alongside key international partners to disrupt the criminal networks treating people as commodities and putting lives at risk. Tackling this crime type is a top priority for us – the NCA alone has more than 70 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking.”