Video captured the moment police opened up the back of a lorry to discover a dozen Afghan migrants inside.
The illegal asylum seekers were found in a truck fitted with a specially fitted concealment – intercepted at a cricket club in Southall, west London, on September 7, 2019.
In footage of the encounter, a National Crime Agency officer can be heard asking the people in the vehicle – including a 12-year-old girl – if they are OK and whether they speak English.
Four days later members of a ‘Dad’s Army’ gang of people smugglers, including convicted cocaine smuggler Mark Youell, 68, collected £65,000 in cash for organising the run, the Old Bailey heard.
However, Youell, along with Terry Brewer, 51, Rohit Chawla, 34, and six other men including Chawla’s elderly father Surjeet were later caught in an undercover operation – when one of them dozed off.
The mission began on July 5, 2019, when officers from the NCA began to observe Freddy Lawrence, a man named as one of the conspirators.
Gang members were tailed by NCA agents in Operation Geochronic as they met in pub car parks to organise the human shipment.
For the next three months they were filmed at pubs and other locations in Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Hythe and Greenwich.
In footage of the encounter, a National Crime Agency officer can be heard asking the people in the vehicle if they are OK and whether they speak English
Four days later members of a ‘Dad’s Army’ gang of people smugglers, including convicted cocaine smuggler Mark Youell (pictured), 68, collected £65,000 in cash for organising the run
Carl Bailey (pictured), 52, of Ongar, Essex, earlier admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration
Secret bugs captured audio of the gang discussing boats ‘getting fuel’ and how they ‘all have to put in equal amounts’.
The group had considered bringing people in on a boat they controlled and sailed it across the channel, the court heard.
‘Following a number of these meetings in July and August, on September 1, 2019, two men departed Dover Marina in a boat named “To Kill A Mockingbird”,’ prosecutor Lesley Bates KC said.
‘They travelled towards the French coast and returned around five hours later. They did not in fact bring any migrants with them on this occasion and it may be that something thwarted their plan.
‘Subsequently, the plan appears to have changed, and other willing participants were identified and brought into the plan.
‘Thus, on September 7, 2019, police intercepted a lorry at a cricket club in Southall.
‘In the rear of the lorry were 12 Afghan Sikh migrants. All of them had been brought here illegally.
‘Four days later, two of the defendants together collected £64,945 in cash. The prosecution says this was payment for the enterprise,’ the prosecutor added.
Terry Brewer (pictured), 51, was also among the men involved in the operation
Rohit Chawla (pictured) of Hayes, west London, denied but was convicted of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration
Youell, of Clacton-on-Sea, Brewer, of Hatfield Peverel, Essex, and Chawla of Hayes, west London, all denied but were convicted of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
They claimed they had no idea they were smuggling people and thought they were delivering furniture.
In July 2020 Youell was caught by NCA officers trying to smuggle 32kg of cocaine, 3kg of MDMA and 20.5kg of heroin into the country through a removals company owned by Rolls Royce-driving associate Brian Wright.
Bugs planted in a café in Kent caught Youell bragging to Wright: ‘We’re gonna hit the jackpot. We’re gonna make f***ing mega dough.’
But the gang were caught when Wright, then 73, dozed off in a lorry and was arrested.
After a three-month trial they were found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Youell was convicted of involvement in a plot to smuggle £4.5million worth of cocaine into the UK sealed inside fish tanks in 2021 and jailed for 14 years.
Bailey earlier admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Kent-based career criminal Lawrence, 59, from Folkestone, was jailed for seven and a half years for people smuggling in January 2025.
NCA Regional Head of Investigations, Jacque Beer, said: ‘This gang saw an opportunity to make money out of the desperation of others, using a vehicle that had been specially adapted to conceal people or commodities.
‘They clearly did not care about the safety or security of the men, women and children they were transporting, just seeing them as an extra way to make more money.
‘Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA, and we are working with partners in the UK and abroad to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved, wherever they operate.’
Giorgina Venturella from the CPS said: ‘Thanks to the NCA’s investigation, the prosecution was able to present phone records showing how these men worked together and track their journey to and from France.
‘Those involved in organised immigration crime cannot evade detection by using burner phones or changing numbers. The evidence in this case shows how law enforcement can piece together their activities.
‘The CPS will continue to work with partners at home and overseas to bring those involved in organised immigration crime to justice.’
