Moment terrified migrants are smuggled OUT of Britain in back of lorry to avoid French visa crackdown as gang led by Algerian ringleader are found guilty over plot

Disturbing footage shows migrants screaming and crying while locked inside a people smugglers’ lorry heading from the UK to France.

The group, which included children, were being taken towards Dover in a bid to enter French soil undetected – in a reversal of the usual trend of migrants being smuggled into Britain.

Videos show men and women banging the sides of the darkened trailer and begging the driver to ‘open the door’ so they can get out. As the migrants become increasingly distressed, one is heard saying they have been ‘sent to [their] deaths’. 

The footage was found on a phone belonging to a ringleader of a people smuggling ring convicted today following a major investigation by the National Crime Agency. 

The operation, led by 41-year-old Algerian Azize Benaniba, involved north Africans who had come to the UK on commercial flights using legal tourist visas. 

After making contact with Benaniba’s gang via social media or contacts in the British diaspora, the migrants – who paid £1,200 each – would be hidden in lorries heading to France. 

The conspiracy was an attempt to dodge the French government’s new rules restricting the number of visas issued to people from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which are all former colonies.

In total, 12 members of the crime group have now been convicted, three of whom were found guilty yesterday, following a six-week trial at Isleworth Crown Court. 

Videos show men and women banging the sides of the darkened trailer and begging the driver to ‘open the door’ so they can get out

The operation was led by 41-year-old Algerian Azize Benaniba, who is seen here being taken away by police

Benaniba, who pleaded guilty before the trial started, organised for hundreds of migrants, including children as young as five, to be loaded into refrigerated and unrefrigerated lorry trailers.

His lieutenants, Mahmoud Haidous, 52, Abed Karouz, 30, Amor Ghabbari, 32, and Mohamed Abdelhadi, 50, hired a network of willing drivers to make the runs.

And the network’s facilitator Mohamed Bouriche, 43, was responsible for transporting people to rendezvous locations where they would be moved into the lorries. 

NCA investigators identified more than 20 separate smuggling runs made between February and October 2023. 

Officers began their investigation on February 21, 2023, after 58 migrants were found by French border police hidden inside a lorry at Calais having arrived from the UK.

A series of subsequent attempts were thwarted by police surveillance teams.

On each occasion, officers intercepted the lorries as they travelled to the UK border, rescuing the migrants hidden inside and arresting the drivers involved. 

One attempt on September 6, 2023 saw 39 migrants, including women and children, loaded into an airtight refrigerated lorry trailer at a layby in Sandwich, Kent.

One of them – including a child – required medical attention. 

 Benaniba pleaded guilty before the trial started. The network’s facilitator Mohamed Bouriche, 43, was responsible for transporting people to rendezvous locations

Police said Benaniba and his gang were motivated purely by financial gain 

The ringleaders of the smuggling gang were arrested in a series of raids on properties in North London on March 20

By the start of 2024, the NCA had identified all the gang’s key members, and the ringleaders were arrested in a series of coordinated raids on properties in North London on March 20.

The case is evidence that criminal gangs are using the UK as a back door to evade a clampdown by President Macron on the number of visas handed to people from north Africa following pressure from right-wing critics. 

It will renew claims the Home Office is failing to control Britain’s borders, while also embarrassing French officials accused of not doing enough to stop migrants being trafficked into the UK on small boats and lorries. 

Around 14,812 migrants have crossed the Channel by small boat so far this year. 

In September 2021, Mr Macron’s government said it was reducing the number of visas given to Moroccans and Algerians by half, and a third for Tunisians. 

The decision was partly a response to the countries refusing to accept their own nationals who had been deported from France. 

As the former colonial power, France is a popular destination for migrants for all three nations. Many have family or friends there and already speak the language. 

In light of evidence UK tourist visas are being used as a backdoor into France, figures showing a rise in applications from Algerian and Moroccan nationals will raise eyebrows.

Mahmoud Haidous, 52, and Mohamed Abdelhadi, 50, served as lieutenants for the gang, tasked with hiring a network of willing drivers to make the runs

Abed Karouz, 30, and Amor Ghabbari, 32, also served as lieutenants 

Applications from Algeria have more than doubled between 2019 and 2013, from 20,693 to 47,849 – although many applications would have been turned down. Visa applications from Morocco increased from 23,871 to 34,272. 

John Turner, NCA senior investigating officer, said Benaniba’s gang were motivated solely by financial gain. 

‘These smugglers had no care for the safety or wellbeing of the people they crammed into lorry trailers – their only concern was making money.

‘We’ve seen the fatal consequences of this crime type, as migrants have sadly lost their lives being smuggled across borders on land and at sea.

‘Our thorough investigation has safeguarded hundreds of migrants who were put in serious danger, and has now led to the convictions of 12 members of a prolific people smuggling network.

‘These criminal networks treat human beings like commodities, and we know the gangs and drivers involved in outbound smuggling are often involved in inbound smuggling too.

‘Tackling organised immigration crime is a key priority for the NCA, and alongside our international law enforcement partners, we are relentless in our efforts to dismantle these networks wherever they operate.’