A van driver has been found guilty of smuggling migrants in a hidden compartment who were discovered screaming for help as they were starved of oxygen. Anas Al Mustafa, 43, has been convicted of assisting unlawful migration by trafficking the seven people in a specially-adapted van via a ferry between Dieppe, in France, and Newhaven, on February 16. The discovery at the port sparked a major emergency services response, with ambulances, police and Border Force at the scene.
Jurors at Lewes Crown Court heard how the six men and one woman were being starved of oxygen and suffering from dehydration in the concealed space which was “the width of a human chest”. Crew on the Seven Sisters ship heard pleas from inside a van on deck during the journey and used an axe to break down the fake partition that was hiding the people inside to free them. Opening the case, prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC had said the hidden compartment was two metres wide, 194cm tall and 37cm in narrow width, which forced the migrants to stand, and they could not move to any meaningful degree.
They were not provided with water, the prosecutor added. Mr Corsellis said: “The heat created by seven people in such a small space and the lack of sufficient air/oxygen had created a highly dangerous situation. “It was no doubt this mortal emergency that forced the migrants to call for help in desperation.
” Two of the migrants had lost consciousness by the time they were rescued at around 9.20am, and all of the g.