A gang of human traffickers bought a dirty ship dirt-cheap, packed it with migrants and motored it to England, where the payday would be more than a million bucks. They almost pulled it off. But clumsiness and technology tripped them up.
The Mob Reporter here with an intimate, inside look at a London-based people smuggling ring that ran aground when the gang was caught and, last week, convicted. When their maiden voyage was intercepted off the British coast, the crew were arrested, and a laptop seized. That computer led police to the front doors of the men orchestrating it all.
The old rusty ship, called the Svanic, was bought in Latvia. The ship’s sailors were called a “clumsy crew” as 69 Albanian migrants were picked up in Ostend, Belgium and then turned towards England. After 14 hours at sea, the Svanic was intercepted by Her Majesty’s Coastguard. The laptop was found on board and eventually led police to the front doors of those who organized the smuggling plot: Sergejs Kuliss, 32, a Latvian, who was living in London; Arturas Jusas, 35, a fellow Latvian living in south London; and an Israeli national, Kfir Ivgi, 39, living in north London.
The three organizers and the three crewmen were all charged with conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. One crew member was acquitted after trial. All the others were convicted. Ivgi was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jusas was given nine years and nine months. Kuliss got nine years. Igor Kosyi, 57, one of the ship’s crew got seven. Another crew member, Alexsandrs Gulpe, 44, had his sentencing postponed.
UK - MR.
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