Two jailed for attempt to smuggle migrants

Tarik Mohammed, of Leverton Gardens, Sheffield, was stopped by officers with another man as they got off the overnight ferry from Rotterdam at Hull’s King George Dock last June 14.

The nine, thought to have paid around £4,000 each to be smuggled into the UK, were found hiding among clothing in the back of the Ford van.

They were sent back on the next ferry.

An investigation by the UK Border Agency led officers to Mohamed Ghafil Al-Kulefi – a Kuwaiti who had been living illegally in Sheffield since January last year.

He was arrested a month later at his home, and initially claimed he had never met Mohammed.

However further inquiries revealed he had hired the van and been in regular contact with Mohammed both before and during the trip, which saw the stowaways picked up in France, Belgium and Holland.

Al-Kulefi, 40, and Dutch national Mohammed, 42, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to nine counts of conspiracy to commit a breach of immigration law. Charges against the man driving the van were dropped.

At Hull Crown Court yesterday Al-Kulefi, of Pitsmoor Road, Sheffield, was jailed for six years and Mohammed for five years.

The van, purchased for £2,000 in Sheffield, is now subject to forfeiture.

Simon Walker, Regional Director at the UK Border Agency said: “People smuggling is a serious crime, which exploits some of society’s most vulnerable and desperate people. The sentences handed out today reflect the severity with which those involved can expect to be treated.

“This case demonstrates the controls we have in place at all our borders. It also illustrates the resources that the UK Border Agency is able to call on to make sure that those who seek to abuse the UK immigration system are brought to justice.”