A BRADFORD car wash boss has been jailed for three years after his "serious, detailed and advanced" plan to smuggle illegal migrants into the UK hidden in lorries was foiled in a Home Office sting.

Ali Mahmoud Ahmed, who runs the Pit Stop on Valley Road, Shipley, was investigated after telling a local truck driver it would be easy to bring three people at a time into the country concealed in the space above his cab.

The police were alerted and two undercover officers, 'Ian' and 'Dan', posed as lorry drivers in an intelligence-led criminal investigation to trap Ahmed.

He offered to pay them up to £7,000 a time to bring people illegally into the country, including his brother and sister in Turkey, and a woman in Belgium.

Ahmed, an Iraqi national who has British citizenship, was secretly recorded between August last year and this January making detailed plans with the officers for the smuggling operations.

He was convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court in October of encouraging the facilitation of a breach of immigration law.

Ahmed was remanded in custody until today's sentencing hearing.

Prosecutor Ian Howard said: "He was trying to create a criminal enterprise that was for reward."

He added: "There was a degree of organisation and sophisticated planning here."

Ahmed told 'Ian' and 'Dan' to stop off at a coffee shop in Greece and obtain a receipt so they could later claim that illegal migrants had climbed into the back of their wagons while they took a quick break.

But Ahmed's barrister, Stephen Uttley, said: "This was an amateurish attempt to bring family members into this country."

It was a unique case because no money changed hands and no one was ever loaded into a lorry to be smuggled into the country.

"He's put himself in a very silly position, to say the least, after all these years of struggling to make something of himself," Mr Uttley said.

But Judge Mark Savill said deterrent sentences were needed for Immigration Act offences, now carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

People smuggling was "of public and global concern."

After the case, Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, said: “We are determined to crack down on the vile trade of people smuggling and to bring those responsible to justice.

“Those who try to profit from society's most desperate should know that they will be caught and they will end up in prison.”

Craig Hobbs, of the Immigration Enforcement crime team for West Yorkshire, said: “Our investigators have thwarted a serious, detailed and advanced people smuggling plan.

“Ahmed plotted to bring desperate people into the UK illegally purely for his own financial gain.

“This investigation involved joint working between our own highly trained teams and law enforcement agencies across Europe. It demonstrates that we have the skills to ensure that the criminals involved in this evil practice are caught and put behind bars.”