Two British men who tried to smuggle a Syrian woman into the UK via the Channel Tunnel have been jailed for a year each.

Mohamed Rashid Hifzullah , 36, and Dilovan Sindi , 31, were sentenced by Canterbury Crown Court.

They were originally caught on May 25, 2014, when Border Force officers at the UK inward tourist controls at the Channel Tunnel site in Coquelles, stopped a British-registered Vauxhall Astra.

The three occupants, two men and a woman, presented British passports.

The driver, Hifzullah, and passenger, Sindi, said they had been to visit family in Germany and Belgium and had met the woman passenger at a petrol station en route to the Channel Tunnel.

Checks by officers on her passport showed she was not the rightful holder. Through further questioning she was identified as a Syrian national with no right to be in the UK.

The men were arrested and the investigation passed to the immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations officers.

They were eventually charged with assisting unlawful immigration into the UK, pleaded guilty at the crown court earlier this month and were sentenced last Wednesday.

The woman involved was passed to the French Police Aux Frontières.

Hifzullah is from Grafton Street, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sindi is from the city’s West Road.

David Fairclough, assistant director for the Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations team, said: “This conviction shows how our dedicated and specialist teams are cracking down on the criminals involved in the vile trade of people smuggling.

“The sentences handed out should serve as a warning to anyone tempted to get involved with this kind of criminality. We will catch you and put you before the courts.

“We will continue to work closely with Border Force colleagues to rigorously investigate allegations of immigration related criminality.”

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org.