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National Crime Agency
Six men have been found guilty of trying to smuggle Albanian migrants in overcrowded boats across the English Channel.
The operation, which was mainly based in Dymchurch, in Kent, was uncovered following a series of blunders.
Police moved on the gang after they turned to three-person jet skis.
Father and son Leonard and Alfie Powell were convicted at the Old Bailey alongside Wayne Bath, Albert Letchford, Sabah Dulaj and Artur Nutaj.
Another son, George Powell entered a guilty plea for his part in the conspiracy on 15 May.
Two other men - Alan Viles, 27, from Folkestone, and Francis Wade, 59, from Rochester - were found not guilty.
The nine-week trial heard how one boat linked to the group had to be rescued after nearly sinking.
It was built for six people but had 20 people onboard including 18 Albanian migrants.
Another boat had to be rescued after it was found travelling the wrong way up a shipping lane, and had run out of fuel.
National Crime Agency (NCA) senior investigator Mark McCormack said the smuggling gang was dangerously incompetent.
He said: "We have people controlling vessels with no maritime experience, no sailing experience, who have completed very rudimentary courses of one or two days, trying to cross this busy shipping channel at night in a small vessel not utilising lights or radar."
Mr McCormack questioned "the level of incompetency of the crime group".
'Night fishing'
The court heard that migrants, including men, women and children, were charged up to £6,000 each to journey across the Channel from near Calais.
The gang are believed to have carried out one successful trip in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat, which was found abandoned on the beach at Dymchurch with children's life jackets on board on 11 May 2016.
When border officials went to investigate, the professed owner, Wayne Bath, claimed to have been out "night fishing" when he experienced engine trouble.
'Travel agents'
All eight defendants had denied conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law.
Mr Viles and Mr Wade said they had done favours or jobs for the group, unaware of the people smuggling operation.
Albanian nationals Dulaj and Nutaj acted as "travel agents", finding people who wanted to go to the UK.
Leonard Powell, 66, of Hilltop Farm, Farningham, Alfie Powell, 39, of Button Lane, Swanley, Bath, 38, of Sea Approach, Warden, Letchford, 42, of Rochester Road, Gravesend, Dulaj, 23, of Hospital Way, Catford, south-east London, and Nutaj, 39, of Wheatley Gardens, Edmonton, north London, will be sentenced with George Powell, of Hilltop Farm, Farningham, on 21 September.