Romanian people trafficker jailed over migrant smuggling plot

A people trafficker involved in the smuggling plot which led to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in the back of a truck was jailed for just under four years.

Dragos-Stefan Damian, 28, was extradited from Italy in September last year and charged with involvement in the ring which made millions of pounds.

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October 2019.

Four people smugglers were convicted by an Old Bailey jury in January last year and jailed for a total of 78 years.

Romanian national Damian admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019.

Mr Justice Sweeney said: ‘In general terms the conspiracy was sophisticated, long running and profitable and involved professional organised crime.

‘You are 28 years old and you have no previous convictions.

‘You say that you felt you could not say no.

‘Having left the country, you were arrested in Milan on 10 June last year.’

Damian admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and was jailed for three years and 10 months.

Earlier prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said: ‘The overall conspiracy this defendant was a party to [what] was…to smuggle mainly Vietnamese migrants to the UK in the back of lorries.

‘This court held before in relation to this conspiracy, it was a conspiracy committed for a profit motive which undermined this country’s attempts to regulate and control immigration.

‘In terms of the scope of the conspiracy there were six particular dates that the prosecution can point to where migrants were smuggled.

‘It remains the prosecution case there is an inference there were more events than those that were fortuitously detected.

‘The conspiracy ended for the prosecution purposes on 23 November 2019 when 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in the back of a van being driven by Maurice Robinson.’

The prosecutor had stressed that although Damian was involved in the smuggling ring, he was not facing manslaughter of the 39 victims.

‘His role consisted of the allowing, permitting and actively facilitating his van to be used for the purpose of the conspiracy, on one occasion traveling to Collinwood farm to pick up migrants,’ said Mr Polnay.

On the day the Vietnamese nationals ‘tragically’ died in the back of the lorry, Damian had been waiting at Collingwood Farm to pick them up.

After somebody tipped him off about what transpired, Damian drove off and subsequently left the country.

The run from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in Essex was so well established that ringleader Ronan Hughes could charge his human cargo £14,000 a head, raking in a fortune he hid in offshore bank accounts around the world.

Hughes packed as many migrants as he dared into each badly ventilated container and 28 men, eight women and three children suffocated on the final run as temperatures inside soared to 38.5C.

Some tried to batter their way out with a pole as others wrote final heart-breaking text messages to relatives and partners as those around them sobbed in the darkness.

Jurors saw horrifying footage of steam gushing from the container which became a tomb as Robinson opened the doors after pulling up in Eastern Avenue, Grays at 1.13am on October 23 last year.

Lorry drivers Eamonn Harrison, 23, and Maurice Robinson, 26, together with Romanian fixer Gheorghe Nica, 43, were paid by Ronan Hughes, 40, to ferry non-EU citizens into the UK.

Harrison and Nica were convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter while Kennedy and Calota were found guilty of assisting illegal immigration.

Lorry drivers Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38, were also convicted of their involvement in the international smuggling ring.

Robinson and Hughes earlier admitted the charges.

Nica was jailed for 27 years; Hughes was jailed for 20 years. Nica was jailed for 27 years while Robinson was jailed for 13 years and four months.

Harrison was jailed for 18 years while Calota was jailed for four and a half years.

The names of the victims were: Dinh Dinh Binh, a 15-year-old boy from Hai Phong, Nguyen Minh Quang, a 20-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Huy Phong, 35-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Le Van Ha, a 30-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Van Hiep, a 24-year-old man from Nghe An, Bui Phan Thang, a 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Van Hung, a 33-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Huy Hung, a 15-year-old boy from Ha Tin, Nguyen Tien Dung, a 33-year-old man from Quang Binh, Pham Thi Tra My, a 26-year-old woman from Ha Tinh, Tran Khanh Tho, an 18-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Van Nhan, a 33-year-old man from Ha Tinh 13, Vo Ngoc Nam, a 28-year-old man from Nghe An, Vo Van Linh, a 25-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, a 34-year-old man from Thua Tien Hue, Vo Nhan Du, a 19-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Tran Hai Loc, a 35-year-old man from Nghe An, Tran Manh Hung, a 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Thi Van, a 35-year-old woman from Nghe An, Bui Thi Nhung, a 19-year-old woman from Nghe An, Hoang Van Tiep, an 18-year-old man from Nghe An, Tran Thi Ngoc, a 19-year-old woman from Nghe An, Phan Thi Thanh, a 41-year-old woman from Hai Phong 24, Tran Thi Tho, a 21-year-old woman from Nghe An, Duong Minh Tuan, a 27-year-old man from Quang Binh, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, a 28-year-old woman from Nghe An, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, an 18-year-old woman from Nghe An, Le Trong Thanh a 44-year-old man from Dien Chau, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, a 32-year-old man from Quang Binh, Hoang Van Hoi, a 24-year-old man from Nghe An, Tran Ngoc Hieu, a 17-year-old boy from Hai Duong, Cao Tien Dung, a 37-year-old man from Nghe An, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, an 18-year-old man from Hai Phong, Dong Huu Tuyen, a 22-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Dinh Luong, a 20-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Cao Huy Thanh, a 37-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Trong Thai, a 26-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Tho Tuan, a 25-year-old man from Nghe An and Nguyen Dinh Tu, a 26-year-old man from Nghe An.
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