The driver of a refrigerated van that had migrants trapped in a concealed compartment had suspicions there were people inside.

Anas Al Mustafa, 43, is on trial accused of smuggling seven people into the UK in a specially adapted van via the ferry between Dieppe, in France, and Newhaven on February 16.

Earlier this morning Lewes Crown Court heard crew members on the Seven Sisters ferry had to use an axe to free the migrants from the concealed compartment after “banging and screaming” was heard.

Nick Corsellis, KC for the prosecution, said the migrants called for help because they were being "starved of oxygen and suffering from dehydration".

In a police interview, Al Mustafa, a self-employed builder, said he had first been approached to do a job by a man called Badr who he met when he was last in Syria in January 2024.

He was paid £500 in January to drive a van for an MOT test in Liverpool.

He was then given another job by Badr in February and paid £5,000 to drive a vehicle from Belgium and drop it off in England.

Al Mustafa said he did not know there were migrants in the van, but because he was being paid £5,000 he had thought that, “maybe this time there is people inside”.

The court heard that when further asked by officers why he was being paid this amount to drive an empty van, he replied: “I told you true. I think there is people inside. Why he pay 5,000 this time?

“Why he give me the car (van) one hour before I arrived. I think in my mind why he give me 5,000? Then sure there is people in back.”

Mr Corsellis asked the jury to consider whether this is a confession, adding: “We suggest that the defendant was not telling the full truth as to his involvement in the trafficking.”

Jurors heard that investigations following Al Mustafa’s arrest discovered he had been researching refrigerated units and that footprints consistent with the defendant’s were found on the bonnet of the van, where the entrance to the hidden compartment can be accessed.

A statement from the ship’s captain Xavier Fontenit said efforts had been made to contact the driver on the ship after they became aware of the migrants’ plight but the crew had no response.

He said when the driver “eventually” arrived he “didn’t seem to understand what was going on”, “didn’t speak English” and it was hard to communicate with him.

"He was looking surprised," the captain said.

He said the driver did not attempt to assist with the rescue of the migrants and “sat on his phone”.

Sari Gehle, an Australian nurse who was travelling with her three children to visit friends and family, responded to a call for assistance from the crew.

She described the female casualty as “terrified”, gripping her arm tightly repeatedly saying: “Vietnam, Vietnam”, so she understood the group were from there.

Other male casualties she recalled being on the floor, with one vomiting, and another with a cut across his left shoulder. All of them were given oxygen masks.

Ms Gehle said one person “stood out” in the situation, who she described as an Asian man with a puffer jacket who was “sitting on the ground seemingly scrolling through his mobile telephone".

Mr Corsellis said that man was the defendant.

Ms Gehle said he was "remarkably calm" considering the situation and described it as "strange".

Evidence from Lucy Bristo, who also helped assist crews and who had worked in several healthcare roles, said the migrants "all seemed very frightened and in shock".

Al Mustafa, of Heather Crescent, Swansea, and who moved to the UK in 2011 from Syria, has denied assisting unlawful immigration to the UK.

The trial continues.