Mastermind sentenced to prison in case of 39 Vietnamese people suffocating in container

Last month, Marius Mihai Draghici, 50, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a container, according to Sky News. Draghici fled after the bodies were discovered and was arrested by police in Romania in August last year and returned to the UK.

In a televised sentencing at a London court on July 11, Judge Neil Stephen Garnham sentenced Draghici to 12 years and seven months in prison, according to Sky News. Mr Garnham concluded that Draghici was a “vital link” in a conspiracy that generated “staggering profits from exploiting people seeking to come to the UK”.

Mr Garnham also said the conditions inside the container where the victims died were "indescribable", with "people trapped inside with no ventilation and no way of getting out".

Defendant Marius Mihai Draghici (inset) and the crime scene

The victims, including two 15-year-old boys, suffocated to death in a container while the truck was en route to the UK. Their bodies were discovered in a container at a port near London on October 23, 2019.

The case has sparked a global outcry over human trafficking and the exploitation of gangs, with victims paying up to £13,000 each to be brought to the UK.

In 2021, two other traffickers were sentenced to 27 and 20 years in prison in connection with the case, while two truck drivers were sentenced to 13 and 18 years in prison.

Four other men were also jailed in the UK for conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, and another was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to a minor offence.

Belgium has convicted 19 people in a human trafficking ring linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a container. Source link