Gang used ‘barbaric’ charity shop wardrobes to smuggle dozens of Afghans into the UK

A Walsall man has been jailed for his involvement in a gang which used ‘barbaric’ adapted wardrobes to smuggle dozens of Afghan nationals into the UK. Adrian Nica travelled to France in a Mercedes Sprinter van packed with furniture purchased from the British Heart Foundation in London.

But he came back separately from the driver who was caught at the Dover border on the return journey with seven illegal immigrants packed into the wardrobes, which had been crudely adapted with false panels. One of the people was disabled and in need of a wheelchair.

Nica, also known as Adrian Constantin, was arrested but fled back to his home village in Romania where he remained for two years before extradition proceedings caught up with him. The 36-year-old then returned to the UK voluntarily.

Nica, previously of Clare Road in Walsall, admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and failing to surrender to court. At Birmingham Crown Court today, Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years and two months.

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The gang operated between August and October 2019. In total 35 illegal immigrants were intercepted by border officials, the oldest being 69 and the youngest being aged between one and three.

Nica was involved for two weeks of that period. He had travelled to the continent on August 25 and September 5, in trips prosecutors said were ‘linked to the conspiracy’. More significant was a journey on September 8 when he travelled in the Mercedes Sprinter van as a passenger.

Having been a driver on a previous occasion, his role this time was either to show a different driver the route or act as a decoy passenger to distract border officials, the court heard. Nica returned to the UK on a passenger ferry as the driver of the van was stopped at the border.

Prosecutor Craig Evans stated there were ‘false panels screwed into the wardrobes and people were hidden in the gaps’. Judge Sarah Buckingham described the contraptions as ‘barbaric and dangerous’. She added: “Human beings literally fixed or screwed inside the furniture which was then packed inside the vans. The spaces were confined, hot and enclosed with little air.”

She added that the Afghan nationals smuggled into the country were ‘highly vulnerable’ by nature of their age and circumstances. Hugh Mullan, defending, told the court Nica ‘fell prey to temptation when in a desperate situation’. He said: “He can’t read or write in Romanian and speaks very little English despite being in the country three years before he left.

“When he came in 2018 he got unskilled work as a fruit picker and then was a factory worker. He lost those jobs and was desperate for money. He went to try and borrow money. He was offered illegal work rather than to borrow money which he succumbed to.”

Judge Buckingham ruled Nica’s eyes were ‘open’ to what he was doing. She said: “What you involved yourself in was the exploitation of vulnerable people desperate to escape life-threatening circumstances in their own country, helping to traffic them into the UK in appalling circumstances for financial reward.

“They were young, old and in one case disabled, and they were transported like chattel. The means used involved a real risk to their lives and wellbeing.”

A number of other men have previously been sentenced for their parts in the trafficking ring.

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