A van driver has been convicted of trying to smuggle seven Vietnamese migrants into Britain on a Dieppe to Newhaven ferry.
The jury reached their verdict this morning (Thursday 29 August) after a trial a six-day trial at Lewes Crown Court.
Anas Al Mustafa, 43, was found to have known or have had reasonable cause to believe that there were people hidden in a Ford Iveco Sprinter that he was asked to drive from France to England.
Al Mustafa, a handyman and builder, denied the charge and said that he was driving the vehicle for a friend whose full name he did not know.
The seven migrants – six men and a women – were found after they screamed and banged for help as they struggled to breathe during the Channel crossing.
A crew member on the Seven Sisters ferry used an axe to free them from a tiny and cramped hidden section of the van where they were struggling for air.
Two of the migrants were unconscious by the time they were rescued at around 9.20am and all were taken to hospital, the jury was told.
They were dehydrated and, despite being in a space no wider than a human chest, some had managed to remove clothing because they were so hot.
The ferry crew tannoyed for the van driver but he was asleep in a cabin, Nick Corsellis, prosecuting, told the court.
And as the migrants were rescued, Al Mustafa tried to delete potentially incriminating material from his mobile phone.
He told the court that he had been in shock and just stayed where he was told to by a member of the ferry crew.
He denied knowing that anyone was hidden in the van although he shared his suspicions during an initial interview at a police station after his arrest on Friday 16 February.
Al Mustafa admitted that he was offered money to drive the van – he said 5,000 euros initially but later said that he meant 500.
Judge Christine Laing, the honorary recorder of Brighton and Hove, told Al Mustafa, a Syrian with British nationality, that he would be sentenced at Lewes on Friday 6 September.
It really is time to leave the UK.
Oh.. we can’t. We are not allowed.
Coming to a nail bar near you.