- Jamal Elkhadir and Houcine Argoub were stopped at Dover in September 2023
Two men have been jailed after they attempted to smuggle 39 asylum seekers out of the UK in the back of a lorry.
Jamal Elkhadir, 47 from Morocco, was driving the refrigerated lorry with his accomplice, 32-year-old Houcine Argoub from Bromley in London, when they were arrested at Dover docks in Kent.
National Crime Agency (NCA) officers opened the back of the lorry and discovered 39 migrants from Morocco and Algeria were hiding inside, including a family with a six-year-old son and a teenage girl.
NCA officers were watching Elkhadir and Argoub when they met in a lay-by near Sandwich, Kent, in September 2023. Argoub parked his van close to Elkhadir’s Moroccan registered HGV lorry.
From Argoub’s van, officers saw a number of people exit the van and climb in the back of the lorry before driving off towards Dover where they were stopped by NCA officers.
Jamal Elkhadir, 47 from Morocco, was arrested by NCA officers in Dover after 39 migrants were found in the back of his lorry. He pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration and has been sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment
Elkhadir’s accomplice, Houcine Argoub (pictured), 32, was arrested on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration in November 2023. He also pleaded guilty to unlawful immigration and received a prison sentence of five years and three months
Elkhadir’s Moroccan registered lorry where 39 asylum seekers were found. Elkhadir first claimed he was delivering cherry tomatoes and had stopped for a rest with the doors unlocked. He then claimed he had been threatened at gunpoint to transport the migrants to France
Elkhadir was arrested at the docks on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration and Argoub was arrested at his home address for the same offence in November 2023.
Originally, Elkhadir claimed he was delivering cherry tomatoes to three business in the UK and had stopped for a rest with the doors unlocked. He later claimed he had been threatened at gunpoint to transport the migrants to France.
Both men pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration at Canterbury Crown Court on 13 March.
Elkhadir was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment and Argoub received a prison sentence of five years and three months.
NCA operations manager John Turner said: ‘Their only concerns were about the money they were making and how they could avoid detection, not for the safety of those hiding in the back of the HGV.
‘The same criminals who take people out of the UK illegally often bring them in too, which is why we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the networks involved in people smuggling.
‘This form of criminality not only puts people at risk, it also threatens the border security of both the UK and France, which is why the NCA works closely with partners here and overseas to tackle those facilitating illegal migrants in each direction.’
