A HAMPTON man who was part of a Turkish gang that smuggled more than 500 illegal immigrants into the UK and referred to them as "sheep" has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

The five gang members were sentenced last week at Isleworth Crown Court following a two and a half year joint investigation by investigative forces in the UK and Germany.

Erdogan Ulcay, 38, of Windmill Road, Hampton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday December 15 for smuggling Kurds into the UK.

The investigation by the National Crime Squad's Immigration Crime Team and the German Duisburg city police started in July 2003. It focused on two Turkish organised crime groups one UK based and the other in Germany operating in tandem.

The four other gang members were also sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court.

Ali Ekber Surensoy, 32, of Ponders End, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and recommended for deportation. Muharrem Garip, 25, of Stoke Newington was sentenced to three years imprisonment and recommended for deportation. Ismail Toygun, 48, from Edmonton, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Mustafa Gozcu, 38, from London was sentenced to six years imprisonment and recommended for deportation.

In collaboration with the German gang, the five men arranged the illegal entry of Turkish Kurds into the UK for a standard fee of £3,000. This included providing people with the necessary documentation, like photo-substituted Greek passports and forged and counterfeit EU passports and identification documents.

In conversations the gang members referred to the illegal immigrants as sheep', Turkish slang for illegal passengers.

The smuggled people were either flown into the UK or came in via coaches as tourists. Others travelled by coach from Germany to Calais and onwards by ferry to Dover.

Low cost airlines were favoured and the illegal immigrants would be met at airports by the organisers. They would fly in from Germany, Belgium and Switzerland to Luton and Stansted. At times they claimed asylum upon arrival in the UK. Airfares were booked over the internet and paid for using cloned credit cards, whereby the airlines received no payment for the flights taken.

Ulcay was the chief organiser and played a major role in planning the facilitation. Detectives witnessed him meeting Turkish drivers of German registered lorries.

Family members of illegal immigrants already in the UK paid fees to Ulcay who in turn sent a percentage to the German group. He was arrested in April 2004 while travelling by car to Heathrow.

The Duisburg, German-based gang were already sentenced in early November 2005 after pleading guilty to their part in these offences at Duisburg Criminal Court.

Helene Gould of the National Crime Squad said: "This group had the capability to bring in up to 30 people a week at a cost of £3,000 per person and we are delighted that we have dismantled alongside our colleagues in the German Duisburg City Police such a sophisticated cross border criminal network.

"This success demonstrates the determination of the National Crime Squad to seek out these types of gangs."