Smuggler sentenced to 12 years in deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who suffocated in truck
By BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — A Romanian man who was part of an international human smuggling ring has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who suffocated in a truck trailer in 2019. Marius Mihai Draghici was sentenced Tuesday in London’s Central Criminal Court for manslaughter. Justice Neil Garnham described him as the ringleader’s right-hand man in an operation that profited by exploiting people desperate to get to the U.K. Victims ranging in age from 15 to 44 died as they sent desperate messages to loved ones describing their final breaths in the hot cargo container.
