French Councilor Busted for Sneaking Emigrants into the UK

Apparently reports now show that a French councilor has admitted to being part of an operation to smuggle 16 Vietnamese emigrants into the UK. Christiane Chocat, age 51, pleaded guilty to concealing the group of emigrants inside a van, which arrived on board a ferry. This comes at a time when the UK Border Agency is cracking down on emigrants sneaking into the UK.

Emigration officers were able to make the discovery of the emigrants at Portsmouth port in October. Christiane Chocat, and her son Benjamin Chocat, who had already pleaded guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing, will be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on February 5^th.

The court went on to hear that Christiane was a councilor in her home town of Lumigny Nesles Ormeaux. Her 29-year-old son lives in Choisy Le Roi, France. The prosecution claimed that the Vietnamese nationals were brought into the UK on a hire transit van on the Normandy Express ferry from Cherbourg.

The emigrants consisted of 13 men and 3 women. These emigrants were found hidden behind boxes of shrimp noodles. All of them were detained by Hampshire Constabulary and the UK Border Agency. The emigrants were sent back to France the same evening that they were found.

Andy Cummins, from the UK Border Agency, said that their journey would suggest that they came through Europe, into Paris, and then somewhere around the Paris area they had been placed into this hired van. He added that it must have been a terrible ride to go through.