Four men have been jailed for a total of more than 14 years for their involvement in a plot to smuggle migrants across the Channel into the UK.

Mohammed Sangak, from Chatham, was the prime organiser in the conspiracy to bypass border controls from May to December last year.

In that seven-month period a total of 87 migrants were discovered when seven vehicles were stopped on both sides of the Channel.

Some were found hiding in a consignment of wardrobes in a hired truck, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

An operation linked to Kent Police’s Jupiter team, which tackles criminal gangs, revealed how second hand furniture bought from a charity shop in Rainham had been loaded into a hire vehicle, which later made a return trip with the intention of smuggling people from France via Folkestone.

Former soldier Adam Dunning, formerly of High Street, Gillingham, and John Newitt, from Crewe, Cheshire, admitted conspiracy to do an act to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

Marcus Shorter, of Pine Grove, Hempstead, Gillingham, and Nicodin Ardelean,formerly of Cuxton Road, Strood, admitted assisting unlawful immigration.

Dunning, 29, was sentenced to four years and nine months, Shorter, 32, to three years and nine months and three months consecutive for breaching a suspended sentence for assault, Newitt, 35, to two-and-a-half years and Ardelean, 36, to three years and four months.

Sentence was adjourned on Sangak, 30, of Gold Crest Drive, Chatham, who admitted the conspiracy offence, because he is facing trial on other charges in March next year.

Sentence was also delayed on former prostitute Mirela Macovei, 32, and Anca Aioanei, 26, both formerly of Halifax Close, Chatham, but only until Monday.

They have both admitted assisting unlawful immigration.

Prosecutor Dickon Reid said Macovei and Aioanei went to France in an Audi car on May 27 and stayed at a hotel in Dunkirk, which featured in all of the smuggling operations.

Border officials searched the car and found two people lying in the boot space.

The second interception on June 22 involved a Citroen van which contained 10 Chinese nationals and one Kurd hiding in a load of tyres.

Both the van and the Mercedes Sangak was driving had trackers fitted, which showed their movements. The car had been parked close to where the van was hired in Rochester.

On August 21, border officers scanned a van containing furniture. The weight was too great to move some wardrobes and when the backs were removed 11 Vietnamese and three Iraqis were discovered.

A week later a hired Renault van was stopped and 21 illegal immigrants were found. On September 3, a hired van was about to cross the Channel to the UK when 12 Vietnamese were discovered.

The next interception was on November 13 when a Citroen rental van was stopped at Dover’s Eastern Docks. It contained mattresses that were stacked up to the roof.

Border officials became suspicious when they noticed condensation on the roof. When the mattresses were removed 12 Vietnamese nationals, including five children were revealed.

The final interception was on December 10 when a Mercedes van arrived at the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles in France. Again, the load was mattresses, said to have come from Belgium.

Fifteen illegal immigrants inside from Iran and Iraq, including children, were detained.

Mr Reid said Ardelean had been jailed for eight months for possessing false ID documents used to enter the country.

He also had convictions in Romania for participation in a criminal organisation and was wanted on an international arrest warrant to serve the six-year prison sentence imposed.

A confiscation hearing for all those sentenced will be held in April next year.

Mr Reid said four others had already been sentenced. Two were jailed for three years and 28 months at Canterbury Crown Court and two for 12 months each in France.

DI Gary Scarfe, who lead the investigation, said: "We have successfully dismantled an organised criminal network, which traded in human misery and was motivated solely by financial greed and with no regard for human life.

"Those sentenced today were responsible for smuggling people who were sometimes in desperate situations and who would then be transported in overcrowded and dangerous conditions.

"The courts have now passed substantial sentences which send a clear message to current and would be people smugglers, that we will identify you and bring you to justice.

"We will continue to work with partners on both sides of the Channel to ensure organised criminals do not profit from the exploitation of potentially vulnerable people."