People-smuggling raid finds 19 people crammed into Hackney council house

The raid on the house on Horton Road, east London, on 7 March was the culmination of a five-month council surveillance operation after Hackney housing officers discovered the 19 occupants during a routine gas safety check.

The property was registered with the local authority as having five lawful tenants.

Council officials – who conducted the raid with police and the Home Office’s immigration and nationality directorate – said it was suspected that the home was a clearing house for Chinese people smugglers.

A spokeswoman for Hackney council said: “It is thanks to the diligence of our housing team that we were able to spot it.”

The 19 people, including 18 Chinese and one Iranian, were packed into the house’s three bedrooms or in temporary sheds erected in the back garden. One man was discovered sleeping in a cubby-hole.

Jamie Carswell, Hackney’s cabinet member for housing, said: “This is a terribly sad story. It defies belief that people can live in conditions like these and I have no doubt that somebody somewhere is profiting from this misery.”

The immigration and nationality directorate took in the 19 people for questioning. Five have been granted leave to stay in the UK or have applications pending. The 14 others are still being investigated.

Hackney has been seeking legal advice on gaining possession of the property.

Sam Lister, policy officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said he had never come across such a case. “We know there are places effectively squatted in by people … The question is what we can do? Can we intrude in houses if the rent is paid and there are no complaints from neighbours?”