Man sent to jail for aiding unlawful immigration through Larne Port
A man has been jailed for three months after pleading guilty to assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.
Adrian Calin, 46, with an address listed as Outram Street in Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, was detected at Larne port on May 12.
He appeared at Ballymena Magistrates' Court yesterday via video-link from Maghaberry Prison where he had been on remand.
A prosecutor said immigration officers were carrying out checks at Larne port.
A van was stopped which contained “four Romanian nationals” – Calin and a co-accused Bogdan Romeo Capatci had Romanian passports and two others were “undocumented without any entry clearance to the UK”.
Capatci was recently in court arising out of the detection and was given a two-months jail sentence.
The prosecutor said Calin said he had “met the two individuals at Calais in France on May 10. They had been refused entry to the UK and he therefore offered to bring them to the UK via the common travel area. They shared the cost of the vehicle”.
They had travelled to the Republic of Ireland and had then travelled to Larne with the intention of going to Great Britain.
The defendant had the assistance of a Romanian language interpreter at court.
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the defendant was the “facilitator” in the episode and asked if he would be deported but was told he has settled status in the UK.
A defence barrister said the defendant was unaware the others did not have clearance to enter the UK and thought he was “doing a good turn”.
She said the defendant has lived in England for 15 years.