Two men who attempted to smuggle 39 migrants out of the UK – including a six-year-old boy – in the back of a refrigerated lorry have been jailed for 12 years.

Jamal Elkhadir, 47, from Morocco, and Houcine Argoub, 32, from Bromley, were being watched by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers when they met in a layby near Sandwich.

Argoub, who was driving a van, parked close to Elkhadir’s Moroccan registered HGV during the incident last September.

Several people were spotted exiting the vehicle and climbing into the back of the lorry.

NCA officers intercepted the lorry, which could only be opened from the outside, when it arrived at the docks in Dover.

39 migrants of North African origin were found inside.

The group, who were all Algerian or Moroccan, included a family travelling with their six-year-old son and a teenage girl.

Elkhadir was arrested at the docks on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration, while Argoub was arrested at his home address for the same offence in November.

Elkhadir claimed he had been delivering cherry tomatoes to three businesses in the UK and had stopped for a rest break with the doors unlocked in the layby.

He then changed his story and claimed he had been threatened at gunpoint to transport migrants to France.

Both Elkhadir and Argoub pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration when they appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday.

Elkhadir was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment, while Argoub received a prison sentence of five years and three months.

NCA operations manager John Turner said: “Elkhadir and Argoub were partners in this criminal enterprise to move migrants through the UK and smuggle them to France.

“Their only concerns were about the money they were making and how they could avoid detection, not for the safety of those hiding in the back of the HGV.

“This form of criminality not only puts people at risk, it also threatens the border security of both the UK and France.

“This is why the NCA works closely with partners here and overseas to tackle those facilitating illegal migrants in each direction.

"The same criminals who take people out of the UK illegally often bring them in too.

“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the networks involved in people smuggling."