The key facts
- A gang of 21 people smuggled migrants from London through Kent to France in lorries and vans on ferries
- Migrants paid $1,800 each, arriving in the UK on legal visas in order to work illegally in the EU
- Between July 2025 and January 2026, 10 runs were intercepted and 196 migrants detained; combined sentences exceeded 84 years
How the scheme worked
A gang of 21 people was involved in smuggling migrants in the opposite direction — from the UK to France, which allowed them to bypass EU border checks. The migrants, mainly from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, as well as Nepal, arrived in the UK on legal visas but paid $1,800 each to be smuggled illegally into France to work in the EU. They were driven from London to Kent, where lorries with drivers hired by the gang were waiting to take them across the Channel on ferries. The National reports on this.
Investigation and sentences
The operation was placed under surveillance by the National Crime Agency (NCA), which documented 10 smuggling attempts. All of them were intercepted between July 2025 and January 2026, with a total of 196 migrants detained. The agency published CCTV footage and thermal imaging showing migrants cramming into lorry bodies at night, and NCA officers opening the rear doors of a lorry and a van with people inside.
Who received prison terms
The gang was led by 44-year-old Shuhal Ahmed from London: he pleaded guilty and received eight and a half years. His trusted aide Suheel Ahmed, 26, who collected the $1,800 payments and paid for taxis to Kent, was sentenced to seven years after trial. Taxi driver Robiul Islam, 50, who ferried migrants from London to Kent and recruited other drivers, received five years. Romanian Nicusor Lacatus, 54, who linked the group with lorry and van drivers, was sentenced to six years after court proceedings. Drivers from Romania and North Macedonia also received prison terms; the total across all sentences exceeds 84 years of imprisonment.
Context: the reverse smuggling flow
NCA senior investigating officer John Turner called the outcome a 'significant investigation' into a major network and said that 'the chances of getting caught have never been higher'. As The National notes, although the attention of the British authorities is focused on small boats heading to the UK, in recent years the business of smuggling migrants in the opposite direction has been growing: after the country left the EU, the UK became a convenient transit point for those seeking to avoid EU border checks — someone who entered clandestinely can drive out of Britain and disappear in France, whereas a visa overstayer would be detected. The outlet also recalls that a year earlier a similar operation by an Algerian gang was uncovered, which smuggled migrants in lorries from the UK to France through the same Kent assembly points.
