A MAN has been found guilty of facilitating illegal entry into the country following an incident where a man died inside a shipping container as he tried to make his way with his family to seek asylum in the UK.
Taha Sharif, 38, of High Cross Road, Tottenham, was found guilty of the offence following a six week trial held at Basildon Crown Court.
Three other men were also charged with the offences but the jury found Timothy Murphy, 34, who lives in Belgium but was formerly living in Londonderry not guilty and failed to reach a verdict on both Stephen Mclaughlin, 35, of Rose Park, Limavardy, County Londonderry and Martin McGlinchey, 48, of Derryloughlan Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone.
The court heard that on Saturday, August 16 last year, 35 people were discovered inside a shipping container at the Port of Tilbury. The 10 men, 10 women and 15 children were found inside the container by port staff just after 6.30am. They were all Afghan nationals who were seeking asylum.
Unfortunately one man, 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor, was found dead inside the container. A post mortem revealed he had died of natural causes. However, his family, who were travelling with him, suffered the trauma of watching him die, knowing they were powerless to help or seek medical aid.
The container arrived at the Port of Tilbury after travelling on a P&O Ferry from Zebrugge Port in Belgium the previous night. The container had travelled from Dover to Calais on Thursday, August 14. The men, women and children in boarded it in Belgium and it started its return journey from Zeebrugge on Friday, August 15.
Following the discovery of the people in the container, detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate launched an investigation working with colleagues from the National Crime Agency, Port of Tilbury Police, Belgium Federal Police, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Metropolitan Police Service and the UK Border Force.
The court heard that the asylum seekers had paid thousands of pounds to travel to the UK. The Afghan Sikh nationals claimed in court that they were escaping persecution from radical Muslims in Afghanistan.
The adult men all described their occupations as shop keepers and they had paid around £28,000 per family for the crossing, selling their businesses, stock and family jewellery to pay for the migration.
When they were interviewed by officers they described being taken by various vehicles to the container which was on the back of a lorry and being told to climb into it. They had to sit on top of bowsers within the container, their clothes getting wet. They become cold and sick as their 14 hour journey continued, becoming so scared that they feared for their lives. The container was dark and there were just two holes on the side of the container to let air through. There were no toilets and the children had to be sick into carrier bags. They also described having difficulty breathing, praying to God to save their lives and believing that they were going to die, especially when other containers were loaded next to the one they were travelling in, closing the air holes.
When the container arrived at Tilbury, ports staff heard banging and opened it. They found the people inside and immediately called ambulance and police. The travellers were taken to various hospitals across south Essex where they received treatment for shock, exhaustion and dehydration. Once they were ok they were interviewed by police and cared for by the local Sikh community of Thurrock who offered their help after seeing reports on the news. They were later passed into the care of the UK Border Force agencies.
DCI Martin Pasmore, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, led the investigation.
He said: "It must be remembered that during this sickening incident Meet Singh Kapoor lost his life; my thoughts are very much with his wife, children, family and friends at this time. The first two days of this incident were particularly difficult for the surviving asylum seekers and I am very grateful to the local Sikh community and the Red Cross who were instrumental in quickly building a rapport between the victims and police as well as providing food and essential items.”
Sharif will be sentenced at a later date.
