Latest news and updates
Man jailed for six years for human trafficking
01 July 2009
A man has been jailed for six years for attempting to bring eight people into Britain illegally.
48-year-old Ghulam Ahmadi, a naturalised British citizen, was unanimously found guilty of eight counts of facilitation on 24 June by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court.
The investigation followed the arrival of eight Afghan nationals who claimed asylum at Heathrow airport on 6 December 2008. They had travelled on a flight from Paris.
Further enquiries made by the UK Border Agency's Heathrow Immigration Prosecution Unit established that the group had boarded a flight to the United Kingdom using the identities and passports of Mr Ahmadi's family, and that he had travelled with them.
Trafficking is an appalling crime, and we are doing everything possible to make the United Kingdom a hostile environment for the perpetrators of it Philip Astle, UK Border Agency
Just a few days later, he was arrested by UK Border Agency officers during a raid on an address in Summers Lane, North Finchley. Around £6,000 in cash was also seized.
The UK Border Agency's Heathrow director, Philip Astle, said:
'This prosecution, and the sentence handed down as a result of it, shows how seriously we and the courts take this form of crime.
'My officers, often working with colleagues from the police and other law enforcement agencies, have had a great deal of success in stopping traffickers bringing people into the country illegally.
'Trafficking is an appalling crime, and we are doing everything possible to make the United Kingdom a hostile environment for the perpetrators of it.'