People smugglers who hid Afghan family in rubbish-filled van jailed

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People Smugglers Who Hid Afghan Family In Rubbish-Filled Van Jailed
The UK Home Office said there was ‘a real threat’ people could have died in the vehicle
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By Anahita Hossein-Pour, PA

Two people smugglers who tried to bring a family-of-five from Afghanistan into Britain hidden in a rubbish-filled van have been jailed.

The youngest child was “extremely unwell and drifting in and out of consciousness” when the family were discovered by Border Force officers in Coquelles, in France, on August 27 2018.

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Josh Mallaburn, 33, and Liam Cronin, 34, were convicted of assisting unlawful immigration transporting the family following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court in England in October.

A view inside the van where the family were discovered
The UK's Home Office described conditions in the back of the van as ‘squalid and dangerous’ (UK Home Office/PA)

The businessman and bricklayer from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, were each sentenced to three years and three months’ imprisonment on Friday, six years after they committed the offences.

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Sentencing the pair on Friday, Recorder Nicola Makanjuola said their offences threatened UK borders and that sentences for this crime were “heavy” and intended to deter others.

Josh Mallaburn, left, and Liam Cronin, © PA Media

She said she had no doubt the “one-off incident” was for commercial gain, although there was no evidence how much the pair benefited financially.

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The judge added that among the reasons she had reduced the sentences from four years in prison, was that the pair, who are both fathers, had the proceedings “hanging over their heads for six years”.

They will serve half of their sentence in custody and half on licence.

The court also heard that the family involved in the incident were able to enter the UK and were granted asylum in 2022.

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A view inside the van where the family were discovered
Investigators said they were working to identify co-conspirators in the case (UK Home Office/PA)

Reacting to the sentencing, Home Office criminal and financial investigations regional lead, Chris Foster, said the move sent a strong message to others considering getting involved in the trade.

“In the back of that van was a lot of fishing equipment and building equipment, they were held in pretty squalid and dangerous conditions,” he said.

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“There was a real threat those people could have died in that van, if there had been an accident, they could have been seriously injured.

“It’s people like Mallaburn and Cronin preying on families like this, desperate people, and they are selling them a dream, it’s clearly done for monetary purposes.”

The van where the family were discovered
The family were discovered by Border Force officers in France (UK Home Office/PA)

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Mr Foster also said work continued to identify co-conspirators in the case and that he believed the UK government’s new Border Security Command would make their approach “even more powerful”.

On changes seen so far, he said: “It’s early days, the structure is still being built.

“But what I have seen, we were already, in my opinion, working very hard, it’s more cohesive now I believe, I think we’re going to see some real successes with it.”

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