Teesside-based people smugglers convicted after investigation
Members of a Teesside-based network who smuggled hundreds of migrants into the UK illegally have been convicted.
Key members of the group were found guilty of the offences on Thursday 11 July, following a six-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
The network's figurehead, 43-year-old Muhammad Zada from Middlesbrough, oversaw at least five conspiracies to smuggle Iraqi-Kurdish migrants across the UK border from mainland Europe in 2017.
Meanwhile his associates - Pareiz Abdullah, 41, Khalid Mahmud, 50, Marek Sochanic, 39, Gurprit Kahlon, 67, and Bestoon Moslih, 41 - were found to be responsible for recruiting drivers and arranging for the movement of people into the country.
The group charged migrants a fee of between £5,000 and £10,000 to be hidden in vehicles such as refrigerated lorries for transit to the UK.
Officers made the first arrest in the case in March 2017 when Milan Sochanic – the father of Marek Sochanic – drove from the UK to Belgium on two occasions to collect and transport people in a van.
When stopped by French police at Calais, eight migrants were found hidden among furniture in the van. Milan Sochanic was then convicted of people smuggling offences in France.
An investigation found that Zada had bough the van and arranged to have ‘Milan Builders’ painted on the side, before planning the journeys with the help of Marek Sochanic.
In another instance, the crime group arranged for migrants to arrive into the UK from France and the Netherlands aboard a refrigerated lorry containing fruit and vegetables.
Dutch Police found 12 migrants in the back of the lorry on the return journey from Rotterdam.
The network also arranged for migrants to be hidden inside a campervan, in vans filled with bicycle boxes and in a shipment of mattresses - with the attempts being foiled by officers in France and Belgium.
The investigation found that the crime group had misled the drivers, who were transporting legitimate cargo between the UK and mainland Europe with migrants being loaded into the vehicles without their knowledge.
Members of the network were arrested in a major strike coordinated by the National Crime Agency in February 2018.
At Newcastle Crown Court, Mohammed Zada was found guilty of five counts of conspiring to facilitate breaches of immigration law.
Marek Sochanic, Khaled Mahmud and Pareiz Abdullah were found guilty on one count of the same charge.
At earlier hearings, both Gurprit Kahlon and Bestoon Moslih pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to facilitate breaches of immigration law.
Both Zada and Sochanic were convicted in their absence after absconding before the start of the trial. Work to bring them into custody is ongoing.
The six men are due to be sentenced on 20 September.
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.”
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