A man has been jailed for smuggling people into the UK, who were discovered screaming for help

Anas Al Mustafa, 43, sentenced to 10 years after seven people were hidden in a concealed space in his van

A people smuggler who was discovered after stowaways were heard screaming for help as they struggled for oxygen in a hidden compartment of his van has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Anas Al Mustafa, 43, was convicted of assisting unlawful migration by trafficking seven people in February in a specially adapted van via a cross-Channel ferry between Dieppe in France and Newhaven. 

The seven, believed to be from Vietnam, were found in a life-threatening condition in Al Mustafa’s van at the East Sussex port, sparking an emergency service response.

Sentencing, Judge Laing said: “Desperate people are prepared to risk their lives to come into the UK, often with tragic consequences. They are exploited by those who profit from this trade and pay little attention to their safety.”

Jurors at Lewes crown court heard how the six men and one woman were being starved of oxygen and suffering dehydration in the concealed space that was “the width of a human chest”.

The prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC told the court that while the younger people recovered from the dehydration and heat, one man had a possible heart attack, one woman had acute kidney injury and another man went to hospital in a comatose state and suffered a stroke.

The trial heard how crew members on the Seven Sisters passenger ferry heard pleas from inside a van on deck during the journey and used an axe to break down the fake partition that was hiding the people inside to free them.

The specially constructed space, ‘the width of a human chest’, where the seven people were hidden inside the van. Photograph: Crown Prosecution Service/PA

Corsellis told the court the hidden compartment was 2 metres wide, 194cm tall and 37cm in narrow width, which forced those inside to stand and not move to any meaningful degree. They were not provided with water, the prosecutor added. 

Two of them had lost consciousness by the time they were rescued and all of the group were taken to hospital and treated, jurors were told.

Sari Gehle, an Australian passenger on the ferry, responded to a call to assist the crew during the incident. She described a female casualty as “terrified”, gripping her arm tightly and repeatedly saying “Vietnam, Vietnam”.

Other male casualties were on the floor, she told the court, including one who was vomiting and another with a cut across his left shoulder.

During the trial, Al Mustafa, of Swansea, denied knowing they were in the vehicle and told jurors he was “shocked” at the discovery.

The court previously heard how Al Mustafa, who fled from Syria in 2010-11, was introduced to a man called Badr who said he had a job for him driving a van.

In a police interview Al Mustafa said he was paid £500 on a previous occasion to drive the van to get an MOT in Liverpool, the court heard. 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”.

Corsellis asked the jury to consider whether this was a confession.

During sentencing, the judge told Al Mustafa she was “satisfied you were not a mere driver” in the operation.

Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, described Al Mustafa as an “evil criminal” who put “seven people’s lives at risk for cash”. She said the government was determined to tackle those who undermined border security.

Elizabeth Baker