AN EDMONTON man has been found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration after charging desperate Chinese nationals up to £21,000 to smuggle them into Britain.

Halil Karakus, 28, of Grampian House, Plevna Road, Edmonton, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court today, after being picked up in a dawn raid in January.

He was part of Turkish network which worked with Chinese people smugglers to traffic Chinese people into the UK in extremely cramped and dangerous conditions in lorries, boats and trains.

They were taken from China across Asia and Europe to the UK in a journey could take up to 18 months and would cost the travellers £21,000 each.

Once the illegal immigrants had been smuggled into the UK, they would often disappear into established communities avoiding detection by authorities.

The men were arrested after a series of dawn raids on 15 addresses in London and Birmingham in January.

Raids took place in Tottenham, Peckham, Leytonstone, Palmers Green, Enfield, Holloway and Kidderminster.

At the house in Peckham, 23 Chinese illegal immigrants were found living in cramped conditions. Officers from the Border and Immigration Agency have detained identified illegal immigrants.

The operation, codenamed Greensea, disrupted and dismantled two huge human smuggling neetworks, the biggest seen in London in recent years.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Parkes, from the Metropolitan Police's Special Intelligence Section said: "These criminals were operating in a highly lucrative and exploitative human smuggling business.

"Chinese nationals spent thousands to get to the UK at great personal risk and with no legal rights or protection.

"The Met’s Special Intelligence Section is committed to targeting criminal networks and bringing them to successful prosecution.”

The other men found guilty were Mustafa Gunduz, 49, of Regina Road, Finsbury Park, Musa Hurman, 49, of Florence Road, Holloway, and Muhammed Ozen, 32, of Danbury Crescent, South Ockendon, Essex.

Eser Tasci, 26, of Palmers Drive, Essex pleaded guilty before the trial.

They are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court tomorrow.

Rahmi Arslan, 34, from Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham, was found not guilty.