Councillor's son admits people smuggling
THE son of a French councillor has pleaded guilty to assisting the smuggling of 16 illegal immigrants into the UK on board a ferry.
Benjamin Chocat, 20, of Choisy-Le-Roi, France, entered his plea yesterday to the charge of concealing 16 Vietnamese immigrants inside a vehicle which arrived at Portsmouth on October 1 last year.
His mother, Christiane Chocat, 51, a councillor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux in France, was arrested along with her son. She has not entered a plea to the same offence. Mr Chocat had his case at Portsmouth Crown Court adjourned for sentence on January 29, while his mother's case was adjourned to be heard at the same court on Wednesday.
They are alleged to have brought a hire van on a ferry from Cherbourg, with 13 men and three women hidden inside behind boxes of shrimp noodles.