A people smuggler has been jailed for 32 months after he spent two days at sea steering a yacht full of Albanian migrants, including a child, towards Lowestoft.
Eduard Mucaj, 51, a fishmonger from Albania, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on Monday January 5 for sentencing.
He was the only one of the 13 on board with a life jacket on the yacht.
The yacht had no safety or navigational equipment and spent two days at sea on his journey from the Netherlands to the UK before being caught and taken into Lowestoft.
The yacht had a faulty engine and was three times over capacity but was caught once it entered UK waters by Border Force.
The flag on the yacht had been changed to the British ensign to make it appear legitimate.
After he was sentenced Mucaj complained it was "quite long" but Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said he had committed a criminal offence and this was the minimum within the guidelines.
The court heard in his defence he took the helm because it would mean he would avoid paying £20,000 for the passage but the prosecution said it was a commercial scheme even if he would not significantly financially benefit from it.
Mucaj planned to work as a welder on arrival and he has two children aged nine and seven, the court heard.
Judge Talbot-Hadley said it was "a real shame and tragedy" that he had decided to take the boat out to sea.
Mucaj set sail from Den Oever in the Netherlands in the early hours of 9 August last year.
He was tracked by Dutch authorities who monitored the yacht’s movement as it sailed erratically towards Lowestoft.
The Dutch coastguard alerted the Home Office when Mucaj failed to respond to their attempts to make contact with the vessel.
The yacht was intercepted two days later by a Border Force patrol vessel as it entered UK territorial waters.
Border Force officers found a dozen migrants, including an eight-year-old child, crammed below deck.
None of those on board had life jackets or harnesses, apart from Mucaj, who was seen at the helm wearing a life jacket, waterproofs and boots.
Two of the migrants hidden in the boat had previously been handed deportation orders and were banned from entering the UK. They have since been removed from the country.
Mucaj was promptly arrested for facilitating illegal entry to the UK and attempting to arrive in the UK himself without valid entry clearance. He later pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court today.
The court heard the other people on board have applied for asylum and their applications are still being processed.
Minister for Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson added: “Evil people smugglers will go to any length to profit from people seeking to reach our shores illegally. This shocking case saw lives recklessly endangered, with people crammed on board a death-trap with no regard for their safety or the law.”
Chris Foster, Deputy Director of Criminal and Financial Investigations at the Home Office, said: “People smugglers are going to increasingly extreme lengths to bring people into the UK illegally.
“Today’s sentence reflects the severity of this brazen smuggling attempt that spanned over 120 nautical miles of open seas."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article