The ringleader of a gang which used boats to smuggle Albanian migrants across the English Channel to the Kent coast has been ordered to pay back £138,000 he made in criminal profits.

Leonard Powell, from Farningham near Dartford, was handed a confiscation order to return the money.

The large-scale operation unravelled when their boat had to be rescued by the coastguard and intercepted by Border Force off the coast of Dymchurch in 2016.

A judge ruled the 68-year-old - who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence - made proceeds of £268,294 from his criminal activity but only has assets of £137,810.

The hearing at the Old Bailey was told Powell faces an extra two years being added to is sentence if he does not pay the cash and will still owe the money if he ignores the ruling.

He was convicted in September 2018 along with his two sons for their roles in an organised crime gang which co-ordinated bringing illegal immigrants into the UK with fast RHIB vessels and even a jet ski.

Powell and his son Alfie were found guilty alongside five other men at a trial at the Old Bailey. His other son, George, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

During one run across the channel, one of their boats was found abandoned on the beach in Dymchurch sparking an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Robert Stilwell and Mark Stribling, were jailed for four years and four months and four years and eight months respectively in July 2016 after running out of fuel with 18 migrants on board.

Powell's trial heard how he had worked with an Albanian gang - led by Artur Nutaj and Saba Dulaj - taking on the role of "travel agents" to transport people across the sea from France.

Speaking about the confiscation order, NCA branch commander Mark McCormack said: "Not only are we targeting and prosecuting criminals involved in this type of offending, but we are also determined to strip assets from them to ensure they don’t benefit financially or materially from their crimes.

"These confiscation orders will help to ensure they forfeit their wealth as well as their liberty. Not paying will keep them behind bars for longer, and the money owed would still hang over their heads.

"The NCA continues to use all the tools at its disposal to target illicit wealth, wherever we find it."

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