Friday, January 31, 2014
Four Sri Lankans and a British national were charged with helping illegal immigrants to enter UK as stowaways.
A report in 'The Guardian' (Wednesday 29th) states that, five members of a criminal gang who smuggled Sri Lankans into the UK through Channel ports have been jailed.
According to the UK Home Office, the men, four Sri Lankans and one British national, helped illegal immigrants attempting to reach the UK by smuggling them in vehicles and charging them œ4,500 each for the service.
The gang was caught following a Home Office-led investigation, supported by Kent police, the National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol and French, German and Swiss law enforcement agencies.
Many of the smuggling attempts were foiled by Border Force officers who discovered stowaways hiding in vehicles stopped at ports including Calais, Dunkirk, Coquelles and Dover.
The newspaper report quoting the Home Office spokesman states that some illegal immigrants upon
reaching the UK would travel to North America using falsified documents. Investigations are in progress to find illegal immigrants who had entered the UK it further states.
The ringleader of the gang, 37-year-old Sudharsan Jeyakodi from Luton, pleaded guilty last August
to conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and was jailed for five years and four months at Maidstone Crown Court.
Chubramanian Vignarajah (42) from Croydon also pleaded guilty last year to the same offence and was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment.
Kamalanesan Kandiah (39) from Hayes, London, John Anes Soundaranayagam Uvais (41) of East Ham, London, and British national Amarjit Mudhar (46) of Northolt, London, were found guilty of the same charge on 17th January following an eight-week long trial.
Kandiah and Uvais were jailed for five years each while Mudhar was sentenced to four years and eight months.
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