A British middle-aged married couple has been handed down prison sentences for joining a migrant smuggling ring and bringing illegals to the UK, hidden inside sofas.
Nicholas Fullwood and his wife Pamela admitted to participating in the illegal smuggling of migrants into the UK after being arrested in January of 2019 in the north of France, being found with two Iraqi migrants hidden in sofas in their vehicle while their 13-year-old daughter was also present.
Mr Fullwood, 48, admitted to engaging in human smuggling and was sentenced to three years in prison at Canterbury Crown Court this week, while 45-year-old Pamela Fullwood was given a two-year sentence suspended, the BBC reports.
The sentences come after Mr Fullwood was originally arrested in 2018 for attempting to smuggle five Iraqis in a van to the UK but had been stopped by French officials.
Another man, 31-year-old Azad Ahmadi, was also sentenced in the case to four years and six months in prison after initially pleading not guilty but being found guilty in a trial that took place last year.
Ahmadi, who lives in Derby, is said to have been the leader of the trio and was described as the “paymaster”, having deposited £4,280/$5,179 to the Fullwoods, who were described as being in debt to loansharks during the sentencing.
The case is just one of many involving those profiting from the smuggling of illegal immigrants from France into the UK, although British nationals are rarely among those prosecuted for people smuggling.
Earlier this month, a French court sentenced six members of another trafficking network, the leader of which was an Iraqi national named Alan Mohammad Ali.
The six-man network generated as much as 1.6 million euros worth of profits from sending migrants across the English Channel in boats that were described as poor quality, overloading the boats to make as much money as possible, regardless of the personal risks to those boarding them.
While many migrants aboard such boats have flooded into the UK in record numbers, others have not been as fortunate, being led to their deaths by people smugglers.
In November of 2021, at least 31 migrants died aboard a single boat trying to cross the Channel, described as the worst maritime disaster in the English Channel in 30 years.