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An Irish trucker caught with 17 smuggled migrants in the back of his truck has been jailed for four years in Belgium.
Richard Woods, 32, was initially released after being trapped in the port of Zeebrugge last October.
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However, a touch on his phone by police revealed that Woods was arguing about Albanian immigrants and showed that he was aware that they were in the trailer, a court in Bruges heard.
A European arrest warrant was issued and Woods was detained in France in January and extradited to Belgium, where he has remained in custody ever since.
His defense attorney told the court on Wednesday that the phone call in which his client spoke about migrant smuggling was “Irish humor.”
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Lawyer Johan Platteau said: “He was indeed talking trash. He was babbling about everything.
However, the judge disagreed and imprisoned Woods for four years. He was also ordered to pay a minimum fine of € 34,000.
Woods’ sentence came when two carriers continue to challenge his extradition to the United Kingdom in connection with the deaths of 39 immigrants in England last October.
The eight women and 31 men, all Vietnamese, had arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in the back of a truck and were found dead in Essex from lack of oxygen inside the trailer.
Both Ronan Hughes, 40, and Eamon Harrison, 22, deny any involvement in their deaths. They are wanted to face 39 counts of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to help illegal immigration.
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Harrison, from Mayobridge, Co Down, is said to have delivered the trailer to a Belgian port before his trip to Britain, where he was picked up by Maurice Robinson.
Hughes from Leitrim, Silverstream, Tyholland, Co Monaghan, is alleged to have “arranged, paid for the trip and controlled the drivers who picked up the migrants.”
Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, Co Armagh, has already admitted 39 counts of murder at London’s Old Bailey and will be sentenced at a later date.
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