After being exposed by the Mail on Sunday... Ruthless people-smuggler who sneaked into Britain is jailed
A ruthless people-smuggler who was walking London’s streets despite being kicked out of the UK has been jailed after The Mail on Sunday exposed his return.
A ruthless people-smuggler who was walking London’s streets despite being kicked out of the UK has been jailed after The Mail on Sunday exposed his return.
Alket Dauti, 38, led a vile gang that smuggled hundreds of illegal migrants from Belgium inside refrigerated lorries, masterminding the operation from his British base.
The group, comprising Dauti and his cousins, even wrapped migrants’ hands and feet – some of whom were children – in plastic bags so as not to leave any traces in the lorries.
Dauti has been sentenced to eight months in prison after the MoS told the authorities he had illegally returned to the UK.
But the gangster will not automatically be sent back to his native Albania after his term ends, despite being a twice-convicted criminal.
The court heard Dauti is expected to ask to stay in the UK after his sentence is over and may submit an application while in prison.
He is estimated to have made hundreds of thousands of pounds from the smuggling racket by charging migrants £13,000 for a seat in the front of a lorry or £8,000 in the back.
He came to the UK in 2009 and was first arrested by the National Crime Agency nine years later. He was extradited to Belgium where he had already been sentenced for ten years and fined £625,000 in absentia.
A ruthless people-smuggler who was walking London ’s streets despite being kicked out of the UK has been jailed after The Mail on Sunday exposed his return
Alket Dauti being arrested in June 20, 2018 before returning to the UK
He is estimated to have made hundreds of thousands of pounds from the smuggling racket by charging migrants £13,000 for a seat in the front of a lorry or £8,000 in the back
But the crime boss served only half of this term before he was deported to Albania last year, and then illegally returned to the UK.
Officials were unaware Dauti was living with his family in this country until the MoS tipped them off.
He brazenly posted photos of himself in London on social media, while relatives uploaded images of him taking his two daughters to school.
Dauti was arrested in Penge, south-east London, a week after this newspaper’s exposé in March.
After pleading guilty to entering the UK without leave, he appeared at Woolwich Crown Court via video link from HMP Thameside.
The court heard Dauti ‘gravitated’ towards the UK last year as his wife and two children lived in London.
Police still do not know how he arrived, but Dauti told the MoS in March he flew from Albania to Luton Airport on a Wizz Air flight.
On his plan to apply to stay in the UK, Recorder David Etherington KC said: ‘You have grounds to apply to come here because of your wife and children being in the UK.
I’ve read the moving letter from your wife. Unfortunately, I cannot ignore the fact you came here illegally.’
A Home Office official will visit Dauti in prison to determine if he can submit such an application.