A wrongly accused people smuggler said to have ferried 29 people across the Channel in a rubber dinghy says people smugglers are clearly visible inside makeshift French camps.

Ranjdar Mohammed-Saeid was in part acquitted thanks to a TikTok video showing him sitting away from the dinghy's tiller.

He also revealed multi-lingual “agents” based in the ‘New Jungle’ arrange crossings into Kent for £2,000.

The 27-year-old stood trial at Canterbury Crown Court last week for assisting unlawful immigration into the UK but was acquitted after just 27 minutes.

It was alleged the Iraqi-national steered the boat onto Dungeness beach on April 21 after throwing his mobile phone in the sea.

But Mr Mohammed-Saeid told jurors “not once in my life have I driven a boat,” including during the eight-hour voyage.

When prosecutors asked Mr Mohammed-Saeid how he came to arrive in northern France he claimed to have been cargoed from Kurdistan, through Italy and France via lorry into Dunkirk.

At ‘The Jungle’ camp he made friends with fellow kurds ‘Mohammad’ and ‘Rezman’, and met a people smuggler called ‘Mala’.

He described how smugglers based in the camp spoke a multitude of languages to cater for numerous nationalities hoping to cross the water; Vietnamese, Kurdish, Afghani for example.

Asked if he found an agent in The Jungle, Mohammed-Saeid said: “Yes, there are a lot of them in The Jungle, everyone can see them.

“My father paid £2,000 for the crossing from France,” he added.

Mohammed-Saeid argued he, along with Mohammad and Rezman, expected to make the crossing via lorry.

But Mala insisted they left by dinghy shortly after midnight with 26 others, largely from Vietnam but also Afghanistan.

At 3pm the next day Mohammad-Saeid was arrested after police allegedly witnessed him at the tiller before killing the outboard motor.

With the help of an interpreter, he described an elaborate way payments are made to 'agents' inside the camps.

After reaching The Jungle and meeting Mala, he would use the Vyber telephone application to contact his father for money.

His father then transferred £2,000 to a transfer shop which, when Mr Mohammed-Saeid successfully made the crossing, would be deposited into the smuggler's bank account.

Mr Mohammed-Saeid told the court he was "unsure" the money had gone through, given he was detained.

Following his arrest he told officers he threw his phone into the sea before landing, the court heard.

But Mr Mohammed-Saeid argued the driver, “a small man,” snatched his phone and launched it into the water after “everyone was taking selfies.”

Asked why he stopped the engine in view of officers, Mohammed-Saeid said: “As we reached the beach some people managed to jump out but I wasn’t able to because of my condition.

“The boat was moving, I couldn’t keep my balance until I turned the engine off.”

Jurors were played a 19-second TikTok clip of the voyage apparently filmed by a passenger.

It appeared to depict Mr Mohammed-Saeid sitting away from the tiller among people, including a young boy, huddled on the raft mid-crossing.

“I’m going to suggest your account of landing and turning off the engine is simply not true.

“The police constable was right when he saw you meters out, driving the boat,” prosecutor Daniel Bunting said.

“One hundred percent, I didn’t,” Mohammed-Saeid replied.

The prosecutor also told the court of the 29 aboard the boat, all of whom initially claimed asylum, all but "five or six" have gone missing.

Represented by Gordon Ross, Mr Mohammed-Saeid was unanimously acquitted.