The final three members of a people-smuggling network run from East London were jailed today, bringing the total prison time handed down across the investigation to more than 84 years.
The three men were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday 28 October, closing the National Crime Agency’s case against a gang that hid people in lorries to get them to France. In total, 21 members of the gang have been convicted as a result of the NCA’s work, the agency said.
One of those in the dock was Shuhal Ahmed, 44, described by the NCA as one of the ringleaders of the East London-based gang. He charged migrants around £1,400 each to help them evade border and immigration checks and enter France illegally. Ahmed admitted people smuggling offences and was given an eight-and-a-half year sentence.
Alongside him was Robiul Islam, 50, a minicab driver who drove migrants down from London to Kent, where they would rendezvous with lorries and vans planning to cross the Channel. Islam also helped organise other drivers to do the same, and was jailed for five years.
The third man sentenced today was Qasim Jan, 55, another minicab driver involved in transporting migrants. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
The sentences handed down today mean the investigation has led to jail terms totalling more than 84 years combined, according to the NCA.
The London leg of the route
What makes this case unusual is its direction — and its London starting point. The people being moved were not being smuggled into Britain. Most of them were in the UK legally at the time, the NCA said, but were trying to avoid restrictions on entering the European Union. The gang’s answer was a road route: minicabs from London down to Kent, then a handover to lorries and vans bound for a Channel crossing, with the passengers hidden inside to circumvent border checks.
That London-to-Kent leg is where the network was most exposed. Minicab drivers making repeated runs out of the capital, meeting lorries at rendezvous points, gave investigators a pattern to follow — and the drivers themselves became the link between the East London organisers and the cross-Channel vehicles. Islam’s role went beyond driving: he helped organise other drivers to make the same runs, which is why his sentence sits alongside the ringleader’s in today’s hearing.
The NCA said it was able to evidence 10 different runs intercepted between July 2025 and January 2026. Today’s sentencing follows the convictions of five other men who were found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration after a three-week trial at Canterbury Crown Court.
Key facts
- 21 gang members convicted in total as a result of the NCA investigation
- More than 84 years in combined jail terms, according to the NCA
- 10 runs evidenced, intercepted between July 2025 and January 2026
- Around £1,400 charged per migrant by ringleader Shuhal Ahmed
- Today’s sentences: Ahmed, 44, eight and a half years; Robiul Islam, 50, five years; Qasim Jan, 55, four years
Facilitating illegal immigration — the offence at the heart of this case — covers helping someone break immigration law, including arranging or assisting unlawful entry to another country. It does not require the helper to have crossed a border themselves: organising drivers, arranging rendezvous points and taking payment for the journey can each be enough for a conviction, which is why the sentences in this investigation reach from the East London organisers down to the minicab drivers who made the runs.
The NCA’s full account of the investigation and today’s sentences is published on its website.
Image: Canterbury Law Courts (library photo, DS Pugh, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons).
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