A Hove man was jailed for five years today (Friday 25 August) for leading a people smuggling ring that exploited migrants, bringing them to Britain on small boats.
Banet Tershana, 52, of Harmsworth Crescent, Hove, led a people smuggling network that was dismantled after a covert investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Members of the group were caught organising people smuggling crossings from France and Belgium to Britain.
At one point they tried to load 12 people into a small boat in Belgium with only six life jackets – and none of the life jackets were suitable for use at sea.
Tershana and two other men were sentenced to more than 14 years in prison between them by Judge Stuart Rafferty at Nottingham Crown Court today.
Tershana, an Albanian, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration into Britain and the other two admitted assisting unlawful immigration into the country.
The other two men who were jailed were Desmond Mark Rice, 47, of Meadowcroft, Aylesbury, and Klodian Shenaj, 49, another Albanian, from Broxtowe Street, Nottingham.
A fourth man, Jetmir Myrtaj, 35, also Albanian, admitted assisting unlawful immigration into Britain on the first day of his trial at Nottingham on Monday 31 July
Myrtaj, of Kirby Road, Leicester, is due to be sentenced on Tuesday (29 August).
NCA officers established that Tershana, Shenaj, Myrtaj and Rice were behind a number of crossings in October last year.
The first incident took place on Saturday 8 October when a rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) named Orca was spotted by a coastguard aircraft offloading migrants in Joss Bay, Kent.
The same drop off location was used for a second crossing on Sunday 23 October.
Investigators discovered that Myrtaj used a false identity to arrange for the Orca to be moored at a marina in Brightlingsea, Essex, and paid for repair work to make the vessel seaworthy.
Phone evidence showed that Myrtaj was waiting on the beach as the boat arrived in the early hours of Sunday 9 October.
Officers were later able to identify him and the RHIB pilots and plot their journey from Essex to the Belgian and French coast and back again.
About a week earlier, Rice had bought a second boat named Aquaholic for £22,500 which he and Shenaj picked up from Poole and then took to Brightlingsea marina.
On the evening of Saturday 22 October, security camera footage showed that Rice filled 12 canisters with fuel costing almost £1,000 at a petrol station in Brightlingsea and then took it to the Aquaholic.
GPS tracking proved that the vessel went to Belgium and travelled back to Britain while cell site data showed that Shenaj and Tershana were in the Essex area when the boat returned.
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A third crossing was attempted after Rice provided a kayak to two men so that they could reach the boat.
NCA officers, who were watching the group, tipped off the Belgian police and the boat was intercepted as it landed on the coast near Nieuwpoort on Saturday 29 October.
The two pilots, a 35-year-old and a 45-year-old, were arrested as they attempted to load 12 migrants, including a woman and child, into the boat.
Checks found that the only six life jackets available were unsuitable for use at sea. The men are now being prosecuted in Belgium.
Rice was arrested the same day. During a search of his house an invoice for the Aquaholic and registration papers were found, and the kayak used to access the boat was also in the back of his van.
Officers searched hours of CCTV footage to track the network’s movements and analysed their phones to establish that they were involved in people smuggling.
Essex Police’s Marine Unit also provided footage of Myrtaj on board the Orca on Sunday 2 October when he claimed he owned the boat, proving his association to the pilots.
Shenaj was arrested a month later and denied any involvement. Tershana was picked up in February and Myrtaj was arrested in March.
Tershana pleaded guilty on Monday 17 April. Myrtaj pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday 31 July. Shenaj and Rice pleaded guilty the next day.
Today, Tershana was jailed for five years. Rice was sentenced to four years six months and Shenaj was jailed for four years nine months. Myrtaj is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.
NCA officers are appealing for information on the whereabouts of Arsen Feci, 44, another Albanian, from Broxtowe Street, Nottingham, who was also charged with assisting unlawful immigration.
Investigators believe that he was involved in buying equipment and sourcing people to “staff” the crossings.
He has absconded since being bailed by the court in March and is thought to have fled abroad.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the NCA on 0370 496 7622 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
NCA branch commander Derek Evans said: “Our investigators worked tirelessly to identify members of this people smuggling network and take action before they could arrange any more dangerous crossings.
“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.
“Tackling organised immigration crime is a priority for the NCA and we will continue to target people smugglers both in the UK and overseas.”
Not from Hove
Imagine granting bail to a foreign national facing a long custodial sentence. It must be soul destroying for the police to see this happen after spending weeks hunting them down.
Yet again such feeble sentences are handed out for such a vicious crime. They should all receive much longer sentences and then be deported back to Albania. Why is this country so pathetic when it comes to dealing with criminals? No wonder the crime rate is so high now.