Eight charged over human trafficking

Eight men have been charged over an alleged people smuggling operation involving Albanian migrants being shipped across the English Channel in small boats.

A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation was launched after an abandoned, rigid-hulled inflatable boat containing life jackets was found on Dymchurch beach, Kent, in May last year. Then, 18 days later, another small boat, this time carrying 18 Albanians, was rescued from the Channel after it broke down and began taking on water.