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Italian police announced today that they have arrested a man wanted by Britain in connection with trafficking in migrants, which led to the death of 39 Vietnamese in a truck, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
Stefan Damian Dragos, 28, is accused of handing over the truck that brought the migrants to England, according to a police statement.
Arrested in Milan on a British arrest warrant, Dragos “is a member of a criminal organization for illegal migration,” the document said.
Vietnamese migrants, including two 15-year-old boys, died of suffocation and heat in an enclosed space in the truck. They were found in the container of a truck east of London in October 2019.
The case shed light on illegal migration networks, which are thriving, taking advantage of people who are willing to take any risks in search of a better life and pay huge sums, BTA reported.
The leaders of the gang that acted in the case – 41-year-old manager of the Northern Irish transport company Ronan Hughes and 43-year-old Romanian George Nika, accused as organizers – were sentenced in January to 20 and 27 years in prison, respectively, for manslaughter and trafficking in migrants.
The driver of the truck, Maurice (Mo) Robinson, was sentenced to 13 years and four months. The other driver, Eamon Harrison, who drove the truck before him and claimed he did not know about the migrants hidden in the trailer, will be in prison for 18 years.
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