He attempted to smuggled ten Vietnamese nationals, including eight children, to the UK from Belgium in the back of a lorry
A Co Armagh people smuggler has been jailed for more than five years after being convicted of trying to smuggle ten people, including eight children, into the UK in the back of a lorry.
Daniel Loughran, 36, of McRorys Road, Newtownhamilton, Armagh, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday, September 4, to five years and six months in prison for being part of an organised crime gang attempting to smuggle migrants into the UK.
He attempted to smuggled ten Vietnamese nationals, including eight children to the UK from Belgium on March 5, 2020, just months after 39 people died in the back of a lorry during a similar crossing.
READ MORE: NI man convicted for attempting to smuggle two adults and eight children into UKREAD MORE: Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson transferred to Northern Ireland jail
The gang are believed to have charged each migrant £15,000 for the crossing where they would be hidden in a dummy load in the back of a lorry until arrival in the UK.
Loughran was convicted alongside Eoin Nolan, 53, of Willow Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, who received a four year prison sentence.
The gang are believed to have charged each migrant £15,000 for the crossing where they would be hidden in a dummy load in the back of a lorry until arrival in the UK.
Nolan was found to have spent hours sourcing a driver, Duncan McLaughlin, 64, from Glasgow, to travel from Scotland to Kent to pick up an HGV and take a ferry to France.
There, he met the migrants at a predetermined rendezvous point in the Rue de Forts area of France and they were given instructions to hide in an unsteady load of used tyres before being driven from France to Zeebrugge in Belgium where they would have been loaded onto a ferry destined for Purfleet, England.
Instead, the Belgian authorities, working with the NCA, tracked the lorry and intercepted the trailer at a parking area in Gentbrugge, Belgium, before the smuggling could continue to the UK.
The migrants had already paid £150,000 to make the crossing, which has never been recovered.
NCA investigators found that Loughran had been working closely with Wayne Sherlock, 44, originally from County Meath but living in Dover in Kent.
NCA Branch Commander David Cunningham said: “Nolan and Loughran’s organised crime group continued to relentlessly pursue making this crossing a success, despite it being just months after the tragic deaths of 39 migrants who had tried to make a similar journey.
“We saw in their communications that they faced issues finding a driver to smuggle the migrants but persisted anyway, despite the danger involved. They operated as a well-oiled machine and took £150,000 from these vulnerable migrants, most of whom were children, for their own pure greed.
“The group loaded old tyres to the trailer for the sole purpose of appearing to be a legitimate delivery and the migrants were told to hide within them, despite them being unstable and the potential for serious injury or worse if the journey had continued.
“The NCA will continue to tackle organised immigration crime and in our work with partners to bring criminal gangs like those Nolan and Loughran were involved in to justice.”
Tarika Jayaratne, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The two defendants in this case made significant efforts to avoid and undermine the checks and controls we have on immigration at our borders. They also put the safety and wellbeing of the vulnerable children they were smuggling at risk for profit.
“The CPS is continuing to work with law enforcement partners to discourage, disrupt and dismantle this exploitative trade through prosecutions and cross-border collaboration.”
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
#Armagh #people #smuggler #jailed #bring #people #lorry
