Traffickers used paprika to confuse sniffer dogs at border security so they could smuggle 31 immigrants into the UK without being detected.
Akan Brayan and Dylan Shwani, both 37, recruited drivers to transport migrants, including children as young as one and a pregnant woman, in a “tiny, air-tight space” in a van alongside stacks of tyres, second-hand furniture and household goods.
The vans revealed migrants covered by boxes of goods while paprika was found on the floor to confuse sniffer dogs from detecting their scent. Both smugglers were found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration into the UK by a non-UK national.
Between 2016 and 2018, Brayan of Nottingham and Shwani of Lincoln, paid six drivers from the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire areas to bring 31 Iraqi migrants, including seven children, on six separate occasions, into the country.
They were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court following a five-year investigation by the Home Office's Criminal and Financial Investigations (CFI) unit. Their vans were intercepted by Border Force and French law enforcement officers in Coquelles, France and Dover.
Photos show in one of the vans a woman cradling a small child, with other children sat around her in the tightly enclosed space.
Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP said: “These brazen attempts to smuggle illegal migrants, including very young children, into the UK in tiny, air-tight spaces with room to barely move, is despicable.
“Our expertly trained officers continue to work round the clock to prevent this illegal activity, which puts lives in extreme danger.
“The Nationality and Borders Act will make it easier to prosecute people smugglers and, by making it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK illegally, we can truly break the business models of these callous criminals.”
Ben Thomas, deputy director for immigration enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigations, said: “My team work tirelessly to bring to justice anyone attempting to smuggle people unlawfully into the country.
“These two evil men endangered the lives of people, including children, to line their pockets without a care in the world for their safety. I hope these sentencings sends a powerful message that breaking the law and putting individuals' lives at risk will not go unpunished.”
The five van drivers have already been convicted for their roles in the smuggling operation.
