Soldiers accused in people-smuggling ring
Army pair said to be part of trio who plotted to traffick immigrants from Calais Jungle to Britain
TWO British soldiers were involved in a plot to smuggle illegal immigrants from the Calais Jungle camp into the UK, a court has heard.
Lance Corporal Kyle Harris and Lance Corporal David Plumstead were both serving in the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment based in Paderborn, Germany, when they were involved in the conspiracy, it is claimed.
The initial agreement was to smuggle “one every Friday” for £5,000 each during trips back to England from their barracks, Maidstone Crown Court heard.
This later increased to two immigrants at a time, with the people collected from a Mcdonald’s restaurant near the encampment in Calais, then driven through the Channel Tunnel.
The scam came to an end in May 2016 when an “anxious and nervous” Harris was stopped by Border Force officers at Coquelles, it was claimed.
He told them he was a serving soldier, produced his Army identification card and said he was on his way to spend two days with his mother in Epsom in Surrey.
When asked to open his boot he re- plied: “OK, I’m going to have to own up to this. There’s two people in the back.”
An Iraqi and a Syrian man, both in their 20s, were found in the boot of his German-registered Hyundai hire car, hiding under the soldier’s combat kit.
Harris, 29, said he was to be paid £10,500 by an “unknown male” and hand the stowaways over in Solihull. He admitted people-smuggling at an earlier hearing, blaming alcohol, drug and gambling problems.
Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, said a subsequent Home Office investigation revealed that the incident was not a “one-off” and that he was involved in six such organised trips between March and May 2016.
He was even said to have boasted at the barracks about his involvement in the plot, allegedly orchestrated by Zinden Ahmed, 36, a Kurdish car wash owner from Middlesbrough, who is described as the “central figure” and is also on trial.
“He met up with Zinden Ahmed by arrangement at various venues within the UK,” Mr Hornsby told the jury.
“Money was handed over, normally £2,500 in advance and £2,500 when the migrant was handed over,” he said. “In return, Harris brought over the illegal immigrant from Calais. He was directed to a Mcdonald’s in Calais, met the immigrant and put them, either one or two, into the back of his car, through immigration, on to a train into the tunnel and thereafter on to various venues in the UK where they were collected.
“Three were successfully brought in, including Ahmed’s brother. The other two are unknown individuals.”
Plumstead and Ahmed both deny conspiracy to assist in the unlawful immigration to a member state.
The trial continues.