Two men who tried to smuggle three Iraqis into the UK in a speedboat have been jailed.

An X-ray scan of the boat as it was towed on a trailer through Dover showed a man, woman and child concealed inside.

Inaros Ranya, 37, and Kalid Mohammad Rashid, 36, were convicted on three charges of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and were sentenced on Tuesday.

Ranya, of Oldham Road, Ashton under Lyne, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was jailed for 20 months at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, the Home Office confirmed.

Rashid, of Platting Grove, Ashton under Lyne, was convicted after trial and jailed for 30 months.

On September 5 2018, a British-registered Nissan Pathfinder SUV, towing a trailer and speedboat and driven by Ranya, was selected for inspection by Border Force officers at Dover after arriving on a ferry from Calais.

Ranya had previously crossed from Dover to Dunkirk – while towing the trailer and speedboat – on September 3.

Border Force officers found the three Iraqi nationals inside and further examination showed a wall under the cockpit had been added to the boat for the purposes of smuggling.

Ranya was arrested and CCTV footage of him leaving the UK was found to show the boat he was towing with the altered cockpit.

Data from his phones found three-way calls, dating from August 2018 until the date of the offence, between Ranya, Rashid and the migrants found in the boat.

It was also discovered that the Nissan was registered to a car body business owned by Rashid.

Dan Scully, director for Border Force South East and Europe, said: “Border Force officers selected the car and trailer for examination and identified a ‘purpose-built hide’ in the cockpit of the boat. Inside they found three people including a child. It was an important detection, without which Ranya and Rashid would not be facing justice.

“People-smuggling puts lives at risk and we will continue to bring the perpetrators to justice.”