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Smugglers get jail for 58 dead
Page 9
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P The grisly deaths of 58 Chinese who suffocated In a sealed trailer when attempting to enter Britain illegally three years ago cast their long shadows into a Dutch courtroom last week.
Seven of the gang behind the fatal effort to smuggle the Chinese into Britain were jailed in Rotterdam, receiving sentences of up to 6 years each. The Chinese victims died because the air vents on the trailer in which they were being smuggled through Dover were closed.
The driver of the truck involved, Dutchman Perry Wacker, was sentenced to 14 years for his part in the tragedy by a British court two years ago. Shortly after his conviction, a Dutch court jailed two Turkish men for nine years for their Involvement.
The seven imprisoned in Rotterdam in the latest court case were said to be part of a crime syndicate linked to the so-called 'snakehead' gangs in the south China province of Fujian. The seven were all arrested last year in raids in Rotterdam, when 51 people were found awaiting a journey to Britain.
In the Dover case, only two out of 60 people In the trailer survived. Customs officers who opened the trailer described being confronted by "a sea of motionless bodies".