A man has been sentenced to ten years in prison at Winchester Crown Court after he plead guilty for his role in attempting to smuggle five men from Belgium to the UK by lorry and supplying cocaine.
Ibrahim Sollaku, 33, an Albanian national from Priory Road, Southampton, was arrested by officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) in Bournemouth.
A team in Belgium also detained a man and stopped five Albanian men from boarding a lorry to travel to the UK at the same time.
A search of his Southampton home led to more than 90 street deals of cocaine being seized.
The judge handed down a sentence of seven years and six months for the immigration offences, and two years and six months for the drug offences.
DCI Adam Smith from SWROCU said: “Sollaku is clearly a well-connected criminal, shown by his involvement in both organised immigration crime and class A drug dealing.
“He wasn’t concerned with the risk or harm both of those offences cause – just in making money.
“Criminals like Sollaku look to make huge profits by facilitating illegal journeys. The high price tags they charge often help to strengthen their criminal networks, causing yet more harm to our communities.
“The more information we have to help identify suspects and potential victims, the more we can target the networks behind it.”
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