A SMUGGLER who tried to bring nine people from Albania into the UK hidden in a campervan has been jailed for more than four years.
Marco Pollice, 36, from Italy, was stopped by UK Border Officers while behind the wheel of a Fiat camper at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles in France in June 2018.
He told border officers that he had been on a two-day trip to Paris with passenger Adele Palomba, 29, also Italian, and that they were the only two people in the vehicle.
But when officers searched the vehicle they found the nine others – all in possession of Albanian passports.
Three men were found in the rear locker, two men hiding in the toilet and a man, woman, and two children lying in the bunk above the driver’s head.
Pollice, of Edmonton, North London, initially pleaded not guilty to charges of assisting illegal immigration, but changed his plea to guilty at a hearing in May.
He was sentenced to 50 months imprisonment at a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on August 27.
Palomba also pleaded not guilty to charges of assisting illegal immigration before changing her plea at a hearing last month.
She was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service, and is to pay £650 in costs.
The Albanian nationals were handed over to the French authorities.
The investigation was conducted by the Criminal and Financial Investigation team in the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement division.
Chris Philp, Minister for Immigration Compliance, said: “We will do everything we can to stop people smugglers in their tracks, with the help of law enforcement and international partners.
“This should serve as a warning to anyone engaged in this heinous trade that you will be caught and face justice.”
