Migrant crisis crackdown nails gangsters charging £11k to reach UK | UK | News

A. immigrant crisis The crackdown caught three gangsters who charged people £11,000 to smuggle them into the UK in the back of lorries. Toni Liko, 42, Klement Gjika, 44, and Stelian Bodnariu, 37, were part of a smuggling ring that brought as many as 20 Albanians into the country over 18 months.

Scottish Garden In reality, he said, the figure will be much higher after the trio are sentenced on Friday, March 27. The force said it had received intelligence M25 Service stations were used as stopping points to transport immigrants behind heavy vehicles.

CCTV footage obtained by police shows the migrants moving into other vehicles before being taken to London.

Ringleaders Liko, Gjika and Bodnariu were brought to justice after detectives scanned the service station’s CCTV, tracked vehicles and used surveillance measures.

Mobile phone analysis showed smugglers and HGV drivers were arranging meeting points and transfers, according to the Met Police.

Acting Detective Inspector Stuart Jack, who led the investigation, said in a statement: “The team worked tirelessly to put these three criminals behind bars where they could no longer exploit vulnerable people.

“Our investigation ultimately showed that this case was all about money, an illegal money-making conspiracy entirely for profit.”

He added: “We know that people trafficked into the UK are often further exploited when they arrive or are forced to work for the organized crime networks that brought them here, leading to more crime in the capital and beyond.

“I would urge people, especially HGV drivers, to be careful and report any suspicious activity to the police. Contrary to what some people believe, this is not a victimless crime.”

Liko, Gjika and Bodnariu were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on Friday of conspiracy to facilitate a non-UK national to breach UK immigration law.

Bodnariu, of Park Way, Edgware, was jailed for three years and four months. Gjika, of Hemingford Road, Islington, and Liko, of Ealing Road, Wembley, were jailed for five years and eight months.

They were convicted in the same court on February 12, after a seven-week trial.