FIVE North East men have been charged with smuggling offences.

Six men in total stood in the dock at Newcastle Crown Court today charged with smuggling offences.

They stand accused of being part of a network that would use lorries to transport people from France, Belgium and the Netherlands into the UK.

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All are charged with conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law, and conspiring to facilitate for gain the entry into the UK of an asylum seeker.

The offences in question occurred between March and June 2017.

Bestoon Abdullah Moslih, 38, of Tulip Close, Stockton-on-Tees, Khaled Mahmud, 47, of Kings Avenue, London, Marek Sochanic, 27, of Leyburn Street, Hartlepool, Gurpit Peter Kahlon Singh, 64, of Wheater Lane, Ingleby Barwick, Mohammed Kheder Zada, 40, of Applecross Grove, Wynyard, and Pareiz Abdullah, 38, of Allensway, Thornaby.

All six men pleaded not guilty to the charges and trail has been set for October, 10 2022 and is set to last eight weeks.

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