Dutch court jails Chinese smugglers
A court in Rotterdam has jailed a man for six years for smuggling illegal immigrants from China into the United Kingdom.
Seven other individuals were sentenced today in the Dutch court. Four of the individuals were convicted in connection with the deaths of 58 Chinese migrants who suffocated in a lorry full of tomatoes in Dover in 2000.
They died from a lack of oxygen and a build up of carbon dioxide in the airtight container during a ferry crossing from Zeebrugge, in Belgium. The 54 men and four women died after a vent in the lorry was closed despite banging frantically on the sides of the lorries with their shoes and screaming out.
Nine people have already been jailed for their part in the tragedy.
The driver of the van, Dutchman Perry Wacker was convicted of 58 counts of manslaughter in 2001 for his part in the deaths and jailed for 14 years. He closed the vent in order to avoid being discovered by immigration officers.
It is alleged that the woman facing the most charges was one of the biggest people smugglers in western Europe.
