Gangsters are flying Albanian immigrants into the UK on ‘business class’ flights, charging £900 a seat for ‘guaranteed entry’
Three planes have already been caught but officials believe 'it's just the tip of the iceberg'
SMUGGLERS are now flying illegal immigrants “business-class” into small airfields.
The gangs charge up to £900 each for a seat on a light aircraft and offer “guaranteed entry” into the UK.
Our probe reveals two British pilots were arrested this month accused of trying to fly 14 Albanians, including three children, from Holland in a hired eight-seater.
Their plane is one of at least three stopped this year, although officials believe it is the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of migrants lined up for flights on overloaded planes.
Around 30 secluded airstrips in the South East are especially vulnerable as they often have no protection from over-stretched border officials.
Former UK Border Force boss Tony Smith said: “It’s a worry. Traffickers are increasingly desperate because of tougher controls at places like Calais.
“Some migrants are prepared to pay more to guarantee getting to the UK. It costs a lot of money to run a small aircraft.”
The two arrested British pilots, who have not been named, flew in to Holland from Lydd, Kent.
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They allegedly planned to load 14 migrants on to the plane, which only has seats for six passengers, before flying back.
But officials had been tipped off and were waiting as their leased Piper Chieftain touched down near Rotterdam.
The pilots, aged 47 and 62, appeared before a Dutch judge who remanded them in custody. UK Border Force officials are also involved in the ongoing investigation.
A Dutch source said: “This was a sophisticated plan and more wide-ranging than these initial arrests.
“There is a network operating in Britain to get people into the country illegally and the criminal gangs behind it are making a lot of money.”
It comes after two more Brits were jailed this month for attempting to fly four illegal Albanian immigrants in on a Cessna 172.
Edward Buckley, 45, and David Green, 53, were arrested as they prepared to take off near Calais. They were each jailed for 30 months.
French prosecutor Philippe Sabatier told The Sun: "This is the first time we have seen anything like this. Before people have used cars, trucks and trains but never planes. It opens up a whole new front when it comes to people smuggling.”
Meanwhile, a judge warned in January that small British airfields were defenceless against people smugglers after a Cessna pilot was caught flying in three Albanians from Germany.
Lithuanian Algirdas Barteska, 60, was jailed for six years after disabling his transponder to avoid being tracked as he approached a flying club last June in Seething, Norfolk.