Fifty-year-old sentenced to 36 months in prison for human smuggling with false Italian papers

The Maritime Police intercepted people from the Italian region of Tuscany on six occasions from 2017 to 2019 for acts of human trafficking. From the port of Zeebrugge they tried to get Albanians with false Italian papers on a ferry to England.

Pay off debt

The intercepted people have now all been convicted of human smuggling, but the investigation then focused on the ringleaders behind the facts. On May 12, 2021, an Albanian was sentenced to fifty months in prison. The pivotal figure ensured that the migrants in England worked on cannabis plantations and in car washes to pay off their debt.

In the same verdict, the Italian, in his fifties, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, one month of which was suspended. The fifty-something objected to his conviction, which gave him a new trial on April 5 this year.

Client

According to prosecutor Frank Demeester, the defendant was designated by a driver as the client of a smuggling operation. The lawyer for the Italian in his fifties also referred to statements made by some witnesses at the office of the Italian lawyer of the defendant. The man admitted that he was in contact with a driver.

About his own journeys to the United Kingdom, the defendant stated that he went there to visit relatives. The Italian has already been sentenced to five years in prison for drug offenses in the United Kingdom. The defense asked for an acquittal across the board.