Smuggler linked to 39 Vietnamese deaths in UK truck must pay US$82,000 to families

A people smuggler responsible for killing 39 people found in the back of a truck has been told to pay more than £65,000 (US$81,919) in compensation, bringing the total ordered to be paid to the victims’ families to more than £280,000 (US$352,884).

Gheorghe Nica, a 46-year-old Romanian citizen living in Britain, was jailed for 27 years in 2021 for the manslaughter of the Vietnamese nationals, aged between 15 and 44, found in a vehicle in Essex in October 2019.

The victims died in sweltering conditions as they were transported in an airtight container from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in the United Kingdom.

On Friday Nica, of Basildon in Essex, was ordered to pay £65,157 to victims’ families through a confiscation order made at the Old Bailey, the central criminal courthouse in London, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Nica was one of five gang members jailed for the manslaughters, with others convicted of people-smuggling.

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First bodies of UK truck victims arrive in Vietnam

First bodies of UK truck victims arrive in Vietnam

The confiscation order made against him brings the total ordered by the court to be paid to families of the victims by the gang to £283,802 (US$357,675), the CPS said.

A hearing last month heard how Nica made at least £90,000 (US$113,427) from people-smuggling.

The court heard how the 39 deaths marked the end of a long-running and profitable operation in which migrants would pay up to £13,000 (US$16,383) for what they thought was a “VIP service”.

Seven smuggling trips were identified between May 2018 and October 23 2019, although investigators believe there were probably more.

Migrants would board lorries at a remote location on the continent to be transported to Britain, where they would be picked up by a fleet of smaller vehicles organised by Nica for transfer to a safe house until payment was received.

On Friday Judge Mark Lucraft KC ruled that the total amount by which Nica benefited was £186,587 (US$235,155). After assessing the defendant’s assets, the judge ordered him to pay £65,175 (US$82,140) within three months.

He said a failure to pay would result in a further year in prison.

The judge said: “I direct that the confiscation sum be paid as compensation to the families of those killed in this terrible tragedy.”

Mixed feelings in Vietnam after two convicted in UK over truck deaths

Previously, Nica’s partner in crime, haulage boss Ronan Hughes, from Armagh, Northern Ireland, was ordered to pay the victims’ families more than £180,000 (US$226,854) after being jailed for 20 years.

Truck driver Maurice Robinson, of Craigavon in Northern Ireland, who found the bodies in the back of his trailer and was jailed for 13 years and four months, had to sell his 4×4 vehicle and watch to pay more than £21,000 (US$26,466).

Romanian Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, from Essex, was ordered to pay £3,000 (US$3,780) after being jailed for three years after admitting conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.

Another people-smuggler, Valentin Calota, from Birmingham, was ordered to pay more than £1,000 (US$1,260).