LONDON – A “right-hand man” in a people-smuggling ring has been jailed for more than 12 years for the manslaughter of 39 men, women and children found dead in a lorry trailer in the county of Essex in southeast Britain, reported German news agency (dpa).
The Vietnamese nationals died in the airtight sealed container as it was being transported by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet, Britain, in October 2019.
Marius Mihai Draghici, 50, fled the country and was detained by police in Romania last August and extradited to Britain.
Last month, he pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey – the Central Criminal Court – on Tuesday, Justice Garnham jailed Draghici for 12 years and seven months.
He told the defendant he was an “essential cog” in a conspiracy which made “astonishing profits out of the exploitation of people desperate to get to the UK”.
He said the conditions inside the trailer where the victims died were “unspeakable” with “people trapped inside the trailer with no ventilation and no way of getting out”.
The senior judge recognised the “pitiful audio recordings” of those trapped inside “reporting they could not breathe and a growing recognition they were going to die there” and their loved ones’ “heart-wrenching” statements.
Four other gang members were jailed in 2021 for between 13 and 27 years for the manslaughter of the 39 migrants.
The victims – aged between 15 and 44 – had hoped for a better life in Britain when they agreed to pay up to UK£13,000 (US$17,000) each for a “VIP” smuggling service.
On Oct 22, 2019, they were crammed into the lorry container to be shipped in pitch black and sweltering conditions.
The 28 men, eight women and three children had desperately tried to raise the alarm, with many leaving messages for loved ones on their mobile phones as they ran out of air before reaching British shores.
One unsent text message by a young mother read: “Maybe going to die in the container. Cannot breathe any more.”
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told the court that the victims’ last hours “must have entailed unimaginable suffering and anguish”.
Lorry driver Robinson discovered the bodies in the early hours of Oct 23 after being messaged by Hughes to “give them air”, but not let them out.
Robinson had picked up the container at the docks and opened the doors before alerting others, including Draghici and Nica, waiting at a nearby pick-up point near Collingwood Farm in Orsett.
The prosecutor said gang members “immediately abandoned the plan and melted away in the night”, with Draghici following Nica on a flight from London’s Luton Airport to Romania.
In victim impact statements read in court, some victims’ families described feeling “sad and hopeless” at their loss while coping with crippling debt from borrowing thousands of pounds to pay for their loved ones’ travel.
Nguyen Huy Hung, 15, one of the youngest victims, had been on his way to live with his parents in Britain and work as a hairdresser.
His father said they were “very shocked” and “trembling” after hearing what happened on social media.
He said: “We did not believe it was the truth until we saw his body with our own eyes… We felt numb and that feeling lasted for many weeks later.”
Married couple Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van, 35, were found lying side by side in the container.
The court heard they had paid US$7,000 to travel to Hungary to work as fruit pickers and told their families on Oct 18, 2019, that their plans had changed.
Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe, who led the Essex police investigation, said: “For more than three years, we have never lost sight of the far-reaching impact the events of October 2019 has had, both here in Essex and, most acutely, in Vietnam.”
Russell Tyner, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “It is devastating that 39 people who put their trust in an unscrupulous network of people smugglers have lost their lives because of the traffickers’ sheer greed and recklessness.
“Draghici sought to evade the law by fleeing the country. Thanks to the continued hard work of prosecutors in our Extradition and International Units, Draghici was successfully extradited to the UK to face the charges against him and has today been brought to justice.” – Bernama
