Smell from lorry led to arrests of people smugglers
A GANG of people smugglers failed in their bid to sneak 20 illegal immigrants into the UK in the back of a lorry when Border staff noticed a foul smell coming from the cargo.
Officials discovered the odour was emanating from 19 Albanian men and one Syrian who had been hidden inside a sealed HGV vehicle which had disembarked from a Dutch ferry.
The vehicle was supposed to be importing electrical equipment but when it was opened for inspection at North Shields Tyne port one officer “noticed feet” poking out from beneath the cargo.
The driver, Marek Niedziechi, 33, from Poland, who worked for a Warsawbased delivery firm, told officials he had travelled from Rimini in Italy, through Luxembourg, Belgium and Rotterdam to the Netherlands before boarding the ferry.
He denied knowing there were migrants being smuggled in the back of his lorry, telling detectives: “It was not on purpose.” But Newcastle Crown Court heard how Niedziechi had conspired with UK-based Albanian gang ringleader Ferdinand Gjolla, 41, and his fellow Albanian Armand Mekolli, 30, to facilitate unlawful entry of the migrants into the UK on September 1, 2015.
All three men were convicted of conspiracy to facilitate unlawful entry to a member state of the European Union following a trial.
Niedziechi was jailed for five years, Gjolla, who has British citizenship, was given eight years, and Mekolli, who transported the migrants once in the UK and also admitted having forged documents, was given three years and three months.