People Smuggling Gang Busted at Osterley Cricket Club

Four jailed after lorry full of people found in the car park

The lorry that was used to smuggle 12 people in Osterley Cricket Club car park. Picture: NCA

June 5, 2026

A people-smuggling gang who used the grounds of Osterley Cricket Club as the handover point for a dangerous cross-Channel operation have been found guilty following a major National Crime Agency investigation.

The Essex-based group, fronted by long-time offender Mark Youell, 69, was under surveillance in the summer of 2019 when officers watched him and associate Carl Bailey, 52, liaise with Kent criminal Freddy Lawrence. Investigators soon uncovered a wider network involving father-and-son Rohit and Surjeet Chawla from Hayes, both previously convicted of immigration offences, who were arranging for Afghan Sikh migrants to be brought into the UK in a lorry fitted with a hidden compartment.

The operation came to a head on 7 September 2019, when NCA and Metropolitan Police officers intercepted the truck shortly after it pulled into the car park at Osterley Cricket Club. Inside, they found twelve people — including a child — concealed behind a false bulkhead in cramped, unsafe conditions.

A SIM card discovered in the hide had been used to contact the Chawlas, who phone data later placed in the same area at the time of the drop-off. There is no suggestion that the club had any knowledge that its car park was being used in this way.

The people found inside the lorry included a child. Picture: NCA

The lorry had travelled from Purfleet to France the previous day before returning through the Channel Tunnel to Folkestone. Terry Brewer, 51, acted as the intermediary between the drivers and Bailey, helping coordinate the journey and the eventual handover at the cricket club.

In the days that followed, Bailey, Youell and the Chawlas remained in close contact. On 11 September, NCA officers arrested Bailey and Youell moments after they received a carrier bag containing £65,000 in cash — payment for organising the smuggling attempt. The Chawlas were arrested the following year; Surjeet Chawla died in 2022 before he could stand trial.

Bailey admitted conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration and money laundering, but the remaining defendants denied the charges. After a trial at the Old Bailey, jurors found Youell guilty on 27 May, and on 3 June convicted Rohit Chawla and Brewer of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. Sentencing is due on 10 June. A fifth defendant saw the jury unable to reach a verdict.

Youell, already serving a sentence for a separate Class A drug importation conspiracy, now faces further jail time.

Youell, Bailey, Chawla & Brewer

NCA Regional Head of Investigations Jacque Beer said the gang had “seen an opportunity to make money out of the desperation of others”, adding that they showed no regard for the safety of the men, women and children hidden in the lorry. The CPS said the case demonstrated how phone evidence and coordinated investigation can unravel even attempts to evade detection through burner phones.

The NCA currently has around 100 active investigations into high-level organised immigration crime — and the events at Osterley Cricket Club underline how such networks continue to operate in and around West London.