Gang charged £1,300 to smuggle refugees into the UK from France in tiny boats

The men were sentenced to a combined total of 16 years in prison, with the head of the group handed a five-year jail term

The lockup in Douai, France, a city 25 miles south of Lille (National Crime Agency / SWNS.COM)

Six men have been jailed in France for setting up a cross-Channel smuggling operation to sneak refugees into the UK in tiny boats and charging them more than £1,300 each.

The gang were seen by police taking inflatable boats sourced from Turkey, along with engines and life jackets, to a small lock-up in Douai, a city in northern France - 25 miles south of Lille.

The small garage was being used as a staging post for the smugglers, who would move boats from there to the French Cote d’Opale - not far from Calais and the Straits of Dover - where they were needed for migrant crossings.

Last October French police moved in, after watching the criminals since the summer.

Six of the gang, including three Iraqi nationals, one of whom is alleged to be the network’s head and chief organiser, controlling the access to the lock-up in Douai.

Also arrested was an Afghan national said to have acted as a recruiter for migrants, a Sudanese national who prosecutors said acted as a delivery driver, and a 41-year-old French man who also worked as a driver.

Prosecutors believe the group were charging migrants around £1,300 (1,500 euros) to cross the Channel in their boats.

At Douai criminal court yesterday (Tues) all the men were sentenced to a combined total of 16 years in prison, with the head of the group handed a five-year jail term.

Six men set up a people smuggling operation to bring refugees across the Channel and into the UK (National Crime Agency / SWNS.COM)

Oliver Higgins, National Crime Agency (NCA) deputy director, said after the hearing: “This investigation and subsequent convictions demonstrates how the close co-operation between the NCA and our partners in France is bringing results in tackling people smuggling.

“Much of the criminality involved in these small boat crossings lies outside the UK, so we have built up our intelligence sharing effort with law enforcement partners in France, Belgium and beyond.

“These smugglers don’t care about the safety of those they transport and are quite happy to put lives at grave risk for their own profits. This is why tackling them is such a priority for the NCA and our partners.”

Britain’s FBI, the NCA, working with the Anglo-French Joint Intelligence Cell (JIC/URO) found the location where boats and equipment were being stored by the crime group.

SWNS