Migrants weren’t ‘blindingly obvious’

AN alleged people smuggler has denied that a dozen or more migrants piling into the back of his van would have been “absolutely blindingly obvious”.

Valentin Calota, 38, from Birmingham, is accused of being part of a ring linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants on October 23 last year.

The prosecutor said: “I’m going to suggest it must have been absolutely blindingly obvious as you sat in that van there was a lot of people – a dozen – getting in the back.”

Mr Calota said: “I did not see. I felt the van moving, I heard voices and noises.”

The defendant said he assumed that they were simply loading cigarettes.

He denies being involved in people smuggling.

The trial continues.