Two Romanian motorists, who tried to smuggle eight Vietnamese teenagers into Kent, have received jail sentences totalling more than eight years.

The two were stopped by UK Border Agency staff in separate incidences in Dover and Coquelles on November 4.

Claudiu Pricope, 29, of no fixed UK address, was charged with assisting unlawful immigration at the UK inward tourist controls of the Channel Tunnel.

He received a 51-month sentence after pleading guilty the following month at a Canterbury Crown Court pre-trial hearing.

Five Vietnamese youngsters were found crouched inside a two-man tent erected in the rear of the Seat Alhambra.

When asked what he was carrying, Pricope was vague, saying that it was clothing, but that he did not know where it was from, where it was going or who it was for.

Unsatisfied with his responses, Border Agency staff subjected the vehicle to further examination.

“The car appeared to be full of bags of clothes, however when officers opened a rear side door and began removing the bags they found a two person tent, fully erected in the void where the rear passenger seats should have been. Inside the tent were crammed five people.

“The temperature inside the tent was intense. All five of the teenagers were drenched in sweat, but people smugglers care little about the conditions in which they transport their human cargo, often putting the lives of others at risk.”

The Vietnamese nationals, two males and three females, were passed to the French Police Aux Frontières and Pricope, was arrested.

The investigation was passed to Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation officers and Pricope was subsequently charged with assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

The team's assistant director David Fairclough, said: “This was not an opportunistic offence, but a carefully planned attempt to circumvent the UK’s immigration rules.

"Pricope misguidedly believed that zipping the people into a tent would defeat Border Force, but all it achieved was to subject them to uncomfortable conditions.

“We work closely with Border Force colleagues to rigorously investigate allegations of immigration related criminality and this case should serve as a warning to anyone tempted to get involved with this kind of offending.

"We will catch you, and put you before the courts.”

Defence barrister James Ross told Canterbury Crown Court that Pricope had been offered money to settle his debts.

"Neither of the men knew for certain who they were trying to smuggle into Britain and what risk they might have posed" - Judge James O'Mahony

“He took all the risks and has got it in the neck. He is very sorry and deeply ashamed.”

Gheorghe Bouros, 25, was jailed for 45 months for trying to hide three people, two women and a man inside a sleeping pod of an HGV which was halted in Dover.

Judge James O’Mahony told the drivers – in separate sentencing hearings – that although he accepted the illegal immigrants had been “economic migrants”:

“What you tried to do was done for commercial reasons and I have little doubt that professional criminal gangs were behind the smuggling operations.”

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