UK Edition
Toddlers nailed into ‘coffin-like’ wardrobes by people smugglers
Trafficking gang sneaked 35 Afghans into the UK in purpose-built hides, from which the migrants had no way of escaping by themselves
Children as young as two were locked into "coffin-like" wardrobes that were screwed shut before being smuggled into Britain hidden in the back of vans by people traffickers.
A five-strong gang of people smugglers sneaked 35 Afghans into the UK using the tactic where the migrants were screwed into purpose-built hides made from wardrobes, surrounded by furniture items in the back of the vans.
Home Office officials said the "coffin-like" hides, from which the migrants had no way of escaping without assistance, were used to conceal up to seven people each journey.
Many were only discovered after they had endured travel from Belgium and France, through the ports and across the Channel. One group was discovered while shouting for their lives at the point of being loaded on to a recovery vehicle.
The five men have now been sentenced to a total of 24 years and two months in prison after a trial at Reading Crown Court. It followed a two-year investigation by the Home Office’s Criminal Financial Investigations unit.
The court heard that between August and October 2019, Paramjeet Singh Baweja, 50, and Viljit Singh Khurana, 45, organised the smuggling of the 35 Afghan migrants into the country through six separate trips.
Baweja and Khurana pleaded guilty to buying the vans and furniture, communicating between the “minders”, the migrants and Romanian drivers and paying money to the “minders”. Baweja was jailed for six years and nine months. Khurana received a six-year prison sentence.
The "minders" - Harmohan Singh, 41, and Manmohan Singh Wadhwa, 57 - admitted to escorting the vans and drivers during the facilitation events and providing progress updates to other members of the crime group and drivers. They were each jailed for three years and four months.
Forensic evidence indicated that Harmohan Singh was also involved in the screwing of the migrants into the hides in the wardrobes.
Romanian Dumitru Bacelan, 29, believed to be of higher "rank" than the minders and drivers, pleaded guilty to recruiting and organising drivers. This included booking hotels and travel around the UK and Europe with other gang members.
He also pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. He has been sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment for immigration offences, and 12 months for fraud offences to run concurrently.
Tom Pursglove, a Home Office minister, said: “These life-threatening attempts to smuggle people, including very young children, into the UK in the back of vehicles with room to barely move or breathe, is quite frankly, horrific.
“I would like to praise the officers on the case in their efforts working round the clock to prevent this illegal activity which put people’s lives in extreme danger.”
Ben Thomas, an immigration enforcement deputy director, said: “Criminal gangs should be in no doubt of our determination to investigate, catch and pursue anyone attempting to bring people here unlawfully and in such atrocious conditions.
“The operation run by this criminal group put children and vulnerable people’s lives in danger for the sake of making a profit. I hope these sentencings send a powerful message that breaking the law and putting individuals’ lives at risk will not go unpunished.”