The plot was blown apart ofter cops swooped on the lorry after it arrived at Osterley Cricket Club in West London
A Hayes father and son were part of a plot to smuggle a group of Afghan refugees in a lorry. The plot was foiled after cops swooped on the lorry after it arrived at Osterley Cricket Club in West London, on September 7, 2019.
Twelve people, including one child, were saved in the back of the lorry which had a specially built concealment behind a false bulkhead. Phone evidence would later show that the Rohit and Surjeet Chawla were in the same area of Osterley at the time, and a SIM card found behind the hidden compartment in the lorry had been used to contact them.
The truck had gone from Purfleet in Essex to France the day before, and had returned via the Channel Tunnel to Folkestone. Gang member Terry Brewer, 51, acted as a go-between between those driving the lorry and a man named Carl Bailey.
Over the next few days, Bailey, 52, Mark Youell, 69, and the Chawlas stayed in touch and met in person on September 11. Shortly afterwards, Bailey and Youell were arrested by the National Crime Agency, just after they’d been a given carrier bag filled with a £65,000 cash payment for their crimes.
The Chawlas were arrested in May and October 2020. But Surjeet Chawla died in December 2022 before he could stand trial. Bailey pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and money laundering, but the other members of the gang denied the charge.
An Old Bailey trial on May 27 this year found Youell guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and money laundering. Last Wednesday (June 3), the jury found Chawla and Brewer guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. They will be sentenced this Friday (June 10). The jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of a fifth defendant.
NCA Regional Head of Investigations, Jacque Beer said: “This gang saw an opportunity to make money out of the desperation of others, using a vehicle that had been specially adapted to conceal people or commodities.
“They clearly did not care about the safety or security of the men, women and children they were transporting, just seeing them as an extra way to make more money.
“Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA, and we are working with partners in the UK and abroad to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved, wherever they operate.”
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