A 37-year-old lorry driver, who was set to pocket €25,000 for smuggling a six-year-old girl into the UK, has been jailed.
Polish national Dawid Flis, 37, was arrested by the National Crime Agency after arriving into the Port of Killingholme in North Lincolnshire in his HGV on March 23.
He had travelled from the Hook of Holland, a village in the Netherlands, with an Albanian woman and a child hidden in the bunk area of the driver’s cab.
After the lorry was searched by Border Force, the two were found, with the woman later telling investigators she had agreed to pay Flis €25,000 to be brought to the UK.
She revealed they had arranged to meet at the roadside in Holland, where he had let them both into the cab. The woman had already paid €12,500.
On June 20, Flis pleaded guilty to facilitating illegal immigration at Grimsby Crown Court.
Polish national Dawid Flis, 37, was arrested by the National Crime Agency after arriving into the Port of Killingholme in North Lincolnshire in his HGV on March 23
An Albanian woman and child was found in the bunk of his HGV after he arrived to the Port of Killinghome (pictured). He has now been jailed for four years
Today, he was sentenced at the same court to four years in prison, and will be deported after his time behind bars.
NCA Branch Commander Sara Moore said: ‘Dawid Flis abused his position as a lorry driver to attempt to smuggle a woman and child into the UK.
‘Tackling organised immigration crime is a priority for the NCA and we will continue in our pursuit of individuals who are involved in this criminality at every step of the chain.’
One man arrested as part of the same incident has been extradited to Italy, while a second remains on bail.
