That's the official NCA news release above, but there's a bit more in the Kent Online piece here:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/new ... in-326485/Birmingham Crown Court heard Behsodi was part of a network bringing people into the country in the backs of lorries in the Europe-wide enterprise – with the human cargo referred to as “pork” and “chicken” in intercepted phone messages.
Those being transported are thought to have paid up to £17,000 for passage by entering into a debt agreement – working off some or all of their fee by labouring in places like cannabis farms, on arrival.
He was also involved in taking payments from those who had been transported in.
Behsodi, a married father of a three-year-old daughter, was originally from Afghanistan but had come to the UK after persecution by the Taliban regime, the judge heard.
Barrister Danielle Barden, in mitigation, said at the time he had fled torture, including “having boiling water poured over him by Taliban officers”.
Judge Dean Kershaw responded to that mitigation, saying: “He came here essentially as an asylum seeker.
“Then involved himself in this, knowing what he went through and then didn’t care as to what others might be going through.”
He told Behsodi: “Your role was like a courier, but you were a courier of individuals who were vulnerable, and brought in for profit.
“These people were treated as commodities – but they were people, human beings.”
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