In Bruges, capital of West Flanders, two human traffickers have been sentenced to five years in prison each. The court tracked them down following checks at the port of Zeebrugge. An Afghan family, including an eight-month-old baby and a four-year-old toddler, were found in a refrigerated lorry transporting watermelons.
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Bruges court sentences human traffickers to five years in prison after Afghan family is found in refrigerated lorry
Colin Clapson
Published:
In early August 2024, police inspected a refrigerated lorry at the port of Zeebrugge (Bruges – West Flanders). The hold contained seven Afghan transmigrants, including an 8-month-old baby and a 4-year-old toddler. The smugglers had hidden the migrants in the refrigerated lorry in Paris without anyone noticing. They broke the seal and secured the lorry again using iron bars.
Little scruples
The prosecutor was highly critical of the way the smugglers had operated. The mother had paid the organisation €10,000 to take her family to the United Kingdom. She had asked the gang on three separate occasions not to smuggle her and her children in a refrigerated lorry. But they did not listen. “It shows just how little scruples the smugglers had,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also described the decision to lock the car securely as reckless. ‘In an emergency, those people would never have been able to get out on their own.’
One trafficker still at large
The court convicted two men. One, a man in his forties, took the family in in the days leading up to the smuggling and gave the victims instructions. He was arrested in Italy some three months after the family was found and subsequently brought to Belgium. The court sentenced him to five years in prison, four of which are to be served. He has also been fined €56,000, a third of which is suspended.
The other man, in his thirties, is still on the run. His sentence, of five years in prison and a fine of €120,000, is to be served in full.