Swansea man guilty of smuggling migrants on ferry as they were 'starved for oxygen'
29 August 2024, 11:30 | Updated: 29 August 2024, 11:32
A Swansea man has been found guilty of smuggling seven migrants in a tiny hidden compartment of his van.
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Anas Al Mustafa, 43, has been convicted of assisting unlawful migration by trafficking seven people in a specially-adapted van via a ferry between Dieppe, in France, and Newhaven, East Sussex, on February 16.
The migrants were discovered screaming for help as they were starved of oxygen in the tiny hiding place.
The discovery at the East Sussex port sparked a major emergency services response, with ambulances, police and Border Force in attendance.
Six men and one woman were starved of oxygen and suffering from dehydration, with the van compartment said to be "the width of a human chest,” jurors at Lewes Crown Court heard.
Crew on the ship carrying the van heard the victims’ pleas during the journey and used an axe to break into the compartment.
Opening the case, prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC had said the hidden compartment was two metres wide, 194cm tall and 37cm in narrow width, which forced the migrants to stand, and they could not move to any meaningful degree.
They were not provided with water, the prosecutor added.
Mr Corsellis said: "The heat created by seven people in such a small space and the lack of sufficient air/oxygen had created a highly dangerous situation.
"It was no doubt this mortal emergency that forced the migrants to call for help in desperation."
Two of the migrants were unconscious by the time they were rescued and all seven were taken to hospital
An Australian nurse and passenger on the ferry, Sari Gehle, responded to a call to assist the crew during the incident and described the female casualty as "terrified", gripping her arm tightly repeatedly saying: "Vietnam, Vietnam", so she understood the group were from there.
She found one of the male victims vomiting and another with a cut across his shoulder, all were wearing oxygen masks.
During the trial, Al Mustafa, of Swansea, denied knowing they were in the vehicle and told jurors he was "shocked" and "completely numb" at the discovery.
The father-of-two added it was the "most difficult day of his life".
Speaking through an Arabic interpreter, he told the Court: "I was in a situation where the shock was too massive I was almost out of consciousness."
Al Mustafa, who is originally from Syria but moved to the UK in 2010-2011, was introduced to a man called Badr last time he was in Syria who said he needed him to do a job for him driving a van.
Al Mustafa told police he was paid £500 on a previous occasion to drive the van to get an MoT in Liverpool, but for the February job he was being paid £5,000 to drive the van to the UK.
Jurors heard that Al Mustafa told police he did not know there were people in the van but because he was being paid £5,000 he thought "maybe this time there is people inside".
He later corrected this amount to £500.
Speaking to the jury, Mr Corsellis said: "We suggest that the defendant was not telling the full truth as to his involvement in the trafficking."
The self-employed construction worker will be sentenced on September 6.
