'Coffin-like hideaway' people smuggler sentenced

Border Force officials said the two men had no means of escape

A man has been sent to a young offenders' institution for smuggling two men into the UK in what was described as a "coffin-like hideaway".

The men were bolted into a cavity underneath a lorry, with no means of escape, UK Border Force officials said.

Stafan-Gabriel Bucur, 20, from Romania, was given 30 months after pleading guilty at Canterbury Crown Court to facilitating illegal entry into the UK.

The men were in good health when found by the officers in Dover on 7 February.

Stafan Bucur was sent to a young offenders' institution for 30 months

The court heard metal supports were spotted on the underside of the lorry after it was stopped to be searched at the town's Eastern Docks.

Officials found two Albanian men huddled inside a cavity created in the floorboards of the vehicle.

'Bolted into cavity'

Border Force deputy director Martin Coates said after the sentencing: "The men had been bolted into the cavity in what was a coffin-like hideaway.

"It took officers more than 20 minutes to remove the bolts and get the boards lifted."

"Fortunately, the men were in good health when we recovered them but the risk to life of such a concealment - the men were effectively trapped, with no means of independent escape - are plain," he added.

The cavity had been created under the lorry's floorboards

Immigration Minister Chris Philp said: "For criminals like Bucur, the people they are smuggling are little more than a commodity whose value is assessed solely in financial terms.

"He clearly gave no consideration to the safety of the men he was transporting."

The Home Office said the Albanian men were "being dealt with in line with the immigration rules".