A haulier has been jailed for his role in smuggling migrants between the UK and France.

Romanian national Nicusor Lacatus, 53, recruited other HGV drivers willing to move migrants across the border for a UK-based gang, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

He was given a six-year prison term at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday after admitting facilitating illegal immigration at an earlier hearing.

"This case should serve as a warning," said NCA branch commander Saju Sasikumar, adding: "We know crime groups try to recruit HGV drivers... but the penalties for getting involved can be harsh and life-changing."

The agency said it arrested Lacatus in November at an M20 service station in Folkestone, Kent, as he prepared to leave the UK in his van.

One of the drivers he recruited, 40-year-old Romanian national Sebastian Haprian, had been stopped two months earlier in Dover carrying 22 migrants in the back of his lorry.

Cash totalling £3,600 was also found and phone evidence showed he had been in contact with Lacatus in the build-up to the incident, according to the NCA.

Haprian was handed a three-year prison sentence in December after admitting his role in the scheme.

Sasikumar said smugglers operated in both directions across the Channel and often drivers transported migrants into and out of the UK.

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More on this story

• Gangs recruiting HGV drivers to smuggle people

• The 'relentless battle against smuggling gangs'

Related internet links

• National Crime Agency