Two men have been imprisoned for using an aircraft to transport individuals from northern France to an airport in Essex.

In March, Southwark Crown Court found Myrteza Hilaj and Kreshnik Kadena, two residents of Leyton, East London, guilty of aiding and abetting the conduct of an immigration law violation.

According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Albanian nationals received sentences of five years and two months in jail.

Their convictions came after an eight-year agency investigation known as Operation Micropus into an Albanian organized crime gang that supplied fake documents, helped facilitate illegal migration, laundered money, and trafficked drugs.

According to the NCA, at least nine Albanian travels between 2016 and 2017 were "linked back mainly to Hilaj"; three of these included light aircraft, and the other nine had persons jumping onto the back of lorries.

As his helper, Kadena's main responsibility was to use the little aircraft to smuggle passengers.

Leaving from North Weald airstrip in Epping Forest, Essex, the group's pilot would fly to Le Touquet airport on the northern French coast, where he would pick up three or four persons apiece to smuggle into the UK.

After that, the pilot would fly to the Epping Forest-based Stapleford Aerodrome, where the passengers would disembark and be picked up by Kadena.

According to the NCA, each victim of trafficking would pay "up to £10,000" for their entry into the UK and "a few hundred pounds extra" for fictitious documentation.

On July 17, 2017, the NCA reported that Hilaj and Kadena, who were both lawfully present in the UK, were observed attending a "fallout meeting at a local pub" following a police interception in France. Kadena had instead offered that they be his "birthday drinks" during the trial.

The NCA’s senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar said: “Operation Micropus has seen us uncover and dismantle an organised crime group who not only facilitated illegal migration, but provided a complete service to those they helped into the country, ensuring they could gain work and access services illegally.

“It demonstrates our resolve to go after all those involved in people smuggling, who risk the lives of others in pursuit of profit.”