Seven people deny conspiracy over trafficking of migrants across channel

Five of the accused are from the West Midlands.

Author: Hannah RichardsonPublished 26th Jun 2023

Seven people have pleaded not guilty to being part of an alleged conspiracy linked to the smuggling of Iraqi migrants across the English Channel.

Three women and four men from the Midlands and West Yorkshire denied conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law by non-EU citizens during a joint appearance before a Leicester Crown Court judge on Monday.

Those charged are: Ibrahim Razak, 40, of Groby Road, Leicester; Andreia Cruz, 36, of Belvedere Mount, Leeds; Elisabete Moreira, 40, of Streetly Road, Birmingham; Michelle Foster, 44, of Broomhill Road, Birmingham; Geoffrey Goodyear, 48, of Pattingham Road, Perton, Staffordshire; Saman Kahraman, 42, of Jervoise Street, West Bromwich; and Paul Price, 53, of Chase Terrace, Burntwood, Staffordshire.

Goodyear, Price, Razak, Cruz, Kahraman and Foster deny a count of conspiracy said to have taken place between May 31 and June 30 2018.

A second charge of the same offence denied by Razak and Moreira relates to a separate time period between September 1 and September 10 2018.

All seven defendants were given unconditional bail until a six-week trial which is due to begin at Leicester Crown Court on May 13 next year.

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