A court in the West Flemish city of Bruges has sentenced 3 Iraqis to 8 years imprisonment for people smuggling. They were being tried for having smuggled 49 migrants, including children, to the UK. Some of those they smuggled were concealed in refrigerated trailers.
Sentences of up to 8 years for members of people smuggling gang that put young children into refrigerated trailers
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Their activities came to light 2 years ago when police found 5 Iraqis, including 2 young children in a refrigerated container at the port of Zeebrugge. There were all very cold and were on top of the containers’ bone fide load. A month later a family from Iraq was found concealed in a new car at Zeebrugge docks. The family included a 3-year-old child.
The victims’ mobile phone records led detectives to several suspect telephone numbers. Further investigation showed that the gang continued its activities for a further few months. The gang mainly used a parking area next to a motorway at Froyennes, near to Tournai (Hainaut) to transship their victims.
There they put 21 migrants into a refrigerated container. The migrants were only freed when they reached Essex in the UK. They included a family with 2 children that had paid 12,000 pounds sterling (14,411 euro) for the crossing to the UK. The gang also crammed 10 people, including several young children into a van to make the crossing.
Sentences of up to 8 years
The leader of the gang was detained in The Netherlands in 2023. During the following evening 2 other suspects, both of whom Iraqi Kurds, were detained.
The Bruges court sentenced the man detained in the Netherlands to 8 years imprisonment for people smuggling. The other two members of the gang were given 4 and 5 years respectively, some of which suspended.