Father-of-two Anas al Mustafa found guilty of smuggling migrants in tiny van compartment

A Swansea man has been found guilty of smuggling seven migrants in a tiny hidden compartment of a van.

Jurors unanimously found that Anas al Mustafa, 43, smuggled the six men and one woman in a specially adapted van with a hidden compartment that travelled on board a ferry between Dieppe, in France, and Newhaven, East Sussex, on 16 February.

The court heard how the crew on the Seven Sisters ship heard screaming from inside a van on deck. The crew used an axe to break down the fake partition inside hiding the people who were being starved of oxygen.

Prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC said the hidden compartment measured two metres across and 194cm tall but just 37cm in narrow width – which forced the migrants to stand.

They could not move to any meaningful degree and were not provided with water, the prosecutor told al Mustafa’s trial.

Two of the migrants had lost consciousness by the time they were rescued.

An Australian nurse and passenger on the ferry, Sari Gehle, responded to a call to assist the crew and described the female casualty as “terrified”, gripping her arm tightly and repeatedly saying: “Vietnam, Vietnam” – so she understood the group were from there.

She said that the other male casualties were on the floor, with one vomiting, and another with a cut across his left shoulder.

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.”

Father-of-two al Mustafa had denied assisting unlawful immigration to the UK, saying the day the migrants were found was the “most difficult” of this life.

Speaking through an Arabic interpreter, he told Lewes Crown Court: “I was in a situation where the shock was too massive I was almost out of consciousness.”

Al Mustafa, who is originally from Syria but moved to the UK in 2011, told the court he was paid £500 by a man he met in Syria to drive the van to Liverpool to get an MOT.

Ms Gehle said one person “stood out” during the discovery.

She described them as an Asian man with a puffer jacket who was “sitting on the ground seemingly scrolling through his mobile telephone”. He was “remarkably calm”, in Ms Gehle’s view.

The prosecutor identified that man as al Mustafa.

The self-employed construction worker will be sentenced on 6 September.

The government said that al Mustafa’s conviction sent a “clear message” to people traffickers.

Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “This appalling incident could have easily ended in tragedy and everyone who was squashed inside this criminal’s van is incredibly lucky to still be alive.

“We are sending a clear message that we will not tolerate this sort of life-threatening activity.

“Our new Border Security Command will work with partners across Europe to smash the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs and halt their activities long before they reach the UK.”