Two men jailed for involvement in smuggling migrants illegally

Daniel Loughran (L) and Eoin Nolan (R) were sentenced on Wednesday

Two men have been jailed for conspiring to facilitate the illegal immigration of migrants, which included eight children, into the UK in the back of a lorry.

Daniel Loughran, 36, from Newtownhamilton, County Armagh and Eoin Nolan, 51, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire were prosecuted following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Appearing before Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday, Loughran was sentenced to five years and six months in prison. Nolan received four years but has already served his time in custody and on curfew.

The incident occurred on 5 March 2020 when McLaughlin was stopped and arrested by police in Belgium, where the 10 Vietnamese migrants were discovered.

The gang are believed to have charged each migrant £15,000 for the crossing

The gang are believed to have charged each migrant £15,000 for the crossing where they would be hidden in a dummy load in the back of a lorry until arrival in the UK.

The NCA said Nolan arranged for McLaughlin to travel from Scotland to Kent to pick up a HGV and take a ferry to France where he met the migrants.

They were then told to hide amongst a load of used tyres before being driven from France to Zeebrugge, Belgium.

Working with the NCA, the Belgian authorities, tracked the lorry and intercepted it in Gentbrugge, Belgium.

The NCA said the money has never been recovered.

Two other defendants, Wayne Sherlock and Duncan McLaughlin, were also involved in the conspiracy and found guilty of one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Sherlock, aged 44 of Dover, Kent, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court on 21 June 2022.

McLaughlin has since died and a third defendant on a count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration was acquitted.

Additionally, NCA investigators found that Loughran and Sherlock arranged for an HGV tractor unit to be driven from Armagh to Dublin, before boarding a ferry to Holyhead and onwards to Kent the day before the smuggling took place.

'Horrendous conditions'

David Cunningham said the migrants were treated "as a commodity"

National Crime Agency Branch Commander David Cunningham said the men had "no regard for the safety or welfare" of the migrants and treated them as "a commodity and a way to make profit".

He added: "The conditions must have been horrendous for a journey by road across Europe and the group were expecting those migrants to remain in that vehicle in those conditions for the crossing to the UK."

Mr Cunningham said this case happened just six months after 39 Vietnamese migrants died in the back of a lorry trailer on a similar route, from Belgium to Purfleet in Essex.

"Bearing in mind what happened in the tragic case in Purfleet, it's astonishing that they would go to those lengths just to make profit," he said.

Mr Cunningham said the Republic of Ireland was being used more and more as a route for organised crime gangs (OCGs) to move people illegally into the UK.

This is because some OCGs see the Common Travel Area - the agreement between the UK and Ireland allowing for free movement between the two areas - as a way to "avoid some of the stricter controls" in Great Britain.

"It [the Republic] is becoming a favoured route and we are working very closely with An Garda Síochána to deal with this," Mr Cunningham said.

"They are very aware of it, as are we, and we work together... to combat organised crime groups that seek to use that route."