An illegal smuggling gang sent more migrants from the UK back to France than Labour has managed to under its one in, one out scheme, a court has been told.
Algerian Uber Eats driver Madjid Belabes, 53, ran an army of cabbies taking the migrants from London to lay-bys and service stations in Kent, before being herded into the back of trucks and driven to France.
Father-of-four Belabes charged £1,200 for each person and made at least £287,000 after arranging 26 transportations in just ten months between December 2022 and September 2023.
He admitted conspiring to facilitate the illegal entry of a person into an EU country and was jailed for ten years and nine months at Kingston Crown Court.
His operation saw more migrants sent back to France from the UK than Keir Starmer’s return deal with French president Emmanuel Macron, announced in July, has been able to achieve.
Malachy Packenham, prosecuting, described Belabes as ‘the main defendant who organised this conspiracy’.
Samir Zerguine, 52, Mourad Bouchlaghem, 44, Mohamed Mabrouk, 44, Mohamed Issaoun, 49, all admitted taking part in the activities of an organised crime group, while a sixth Algerian, Said Bouazza, 55, was convicted by a jury.
They were all arrested during an ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into migrant smuggling from the UK to France.
The agency said the arrests were made after more than 200 North African migrants, including children, were discovered in lorry trailers travelling from the UK to France on separate occasions in 2023.
Algerian Uber Eats driver Madjid Belabes, 53, ran an army of cabbies taking the migrants from London to lay-bys and service stations in Kent, before being herded into the back of trucks and driven to France
The illegal smuggling gang sent more migrants from the UK to France than Keir Starmer’s return deal with French president Emmanuel Macron has been able to remove
