A gang who plotted to smuggle Albanian migrants into the UK using small boats and even a jet ski are today beginning lengthy prison terms.

Led by the Powell family, of Farningham, the large-scale operation began to unravel when 18 people had to be rescued by Border Force officials when a boat broke down at night in the English Channel off the coast of Dymchurch in May 2016.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) prosecuted the two British skippers, Mark Stribling and Robert Stilwell, who were sentenced to more than four years’ imprisonment.

Later, eight men were charged by the NCA with being involved in the incident.

Last month Albanian organisers Artur Nutaj and Sabah Dulaj, Leonard Powell and son Alfie, Wayne Bath and Albert Letchford were convicted at The Old Bailey.

George Powell admitted his involvement in May.

Alan Viles from Folkestone and Francis Wade from Rochester were cleared.

Today they have been sentenced to a combined total of more than 48 years.

George, 42, from Hilltop Farm, Farningham, received a six-year-and-nine-month term.

Leonard, 66, also from Hilltop Farm, Farningham, got nine years; Alfie, 39, from Button Lane, Swanley, was jailed for six years; Bath, 39, from Sea Approach, Warden, Sheppey, will also serve six; as will Letchford, 42, from Rochester Road, Gravesend.

Dulaj, 24, of Hospital Way, London and Nutaj, 39, of Wheatley Gardens, London were jailed for seven years and seven-and-a-half-years respectively.

The lengthy investigation focused on two crime networks from Albania and Kent working together.

Nutaj and Dulaj attempted to illegally bring migrants into the UK from the north coast of France, with help of the Powell's gang.

The Powell family provided transport for the illegal crossings.

NCA investigators were initially contacted in May 2016 after a Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat (RIB) called Rebel was found by Border Force abandoned at Dymchurch.

It contained life jackets and the navigation system showed it had travelled across the Channel.

It was bought by Bath, Leonard Powell and one of his sons in Norfolk for £12,500 cash five day earlier.

Bath used it to cross the Channel.

French National Police observed an unknown number of people being collected from hotels in Calais and being taken by taxi to a beach at Escalles, a short distance away.

The Rebel returned to Dymchurch in the early hours of May 11, where CCTV captured three vehicles, two being driven by Nutaj and Dulaj, arriving at the slipway and then leaving shortly after.

On the evening of May 26, French National Police carried out surveillance at Escalles beach when they witnessed a group of 17 people wading into the water.

Light signals were seen from a car park above the beach and a boat left the area.

It was identified as the Antares, which had been towed to and from Dymchurch beach that day.

It was bought for £3,775 by Letchford in Hampshire days before. Leonard Powell had also been present.

Two days later a boat called White Scanner, acquired by George Powell for £12,500 cash, was seen being put into the water at Dymchurch.

Later that day, it travelled to France and collected a group of 18 migrants.

NCA officers observed a white minibus parked near the shoreline in Dymchurch.

But on its return journey, the White Scanner got into difficulties in poor weather and was rescued by a coastguard helicopter, a Border Force cutter and the RNLI approximately five miles of the coast.

Border Force officer Gareth Leadbetter was later awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for his role in the rescue.

The gang appeared to have attempted their own rescue operation with the Antares, but abandoned the boat upon seeing law enforcement.

The two-man crew of the White Scanner, Stribling and Stilwell were later jailed.

Two months later the group bought another larger vessel called Boat With No Name for £3,000.

NCA officers planted a listening device on the vessel and heard evidence of the preparation for another attempted migrant run.

On July 25, the boat left Ramsgate but hit rough seas and decided to turn back.

The following night it set off again, narrowly avoiding a fishing vessel, and came within 100m of a large cargo ship and travelled against the flow of traffic in the busy shipping lane.

It ran out of fuel and made a ‘mayday’ call. It was found by a Border Force Cutter adrift, before being towed back to shore by the RNLI.

The following month NCA officers observed Leonard and George Powell meet Sabah Dulaj in a pub car park in Farningham. They then travelled to Sheerness and bought a jet ski, believed to be for the purpose of transporting migrants from France to the UK.

All three were arrested.

The same day Kent Police raided the Powell’s farm, seizing drugs, cutting agents and stolen vehicles.

The other gang members were later arrested and charged with conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law.

NCA regional head of investigations Brendan Foreman said: "These men were involved in a staggeringly reckless plot to bring migrants to the UK illegally and in a highly dangerous manner.

"They were prepared to risk lives for the sake of profit, treating people as a commodity to ship across the world’s busiest shipping lane using small boats and even a jet ski.

"Were it not for the intervention of the NCA, Border Force and other agencies involved in this operation, including the Coastguard and RNLI, I am certain there would have been tragic consequences.

"In disrupting and dismantling this people smuggling network we have not only protected the security and the integrity of the UK border, but also saved lives."

As a result of this NCA investigation, codenamed Operation Sugate, a range of other offending including drug and vehicle crime was also identified involving associates of the group and other family members. Working with Kent Police, the NCA significantly disrupted this, and a number of people were arrested and later convicted.