Smuggler linked to 39 Vietnamese deaths in UK truck must pay US$82,000 to families
- Gheorghe Nica, a 46-year-old Romanian living in Britain, was among five people jailed for the 2019 manslaughter of the Vietnamese nationals
- They died in sweltering conditions while being transported in an airtight container from Belgium to Britain. If Nica does not pay up, he will spend more time in prison
A people smuggler responsible for killing 39 people found in the back of a truck has been told to pay more than £65,000 (US$81,919) in compensation, bringing the total ordered to be paid to the victims’ families to more than £280,000 (US$352,884).
Gheorghe Nica, a 46-year-old Romanian citizen living in Britain, was jailed for 27 years in 2021 for the manslaughter of the Vietnamese nationals, aged between 15 and 44, found in a vehicle in Essex in October 2019.
The victims died in sweltering conditions as they were transported in an airtight container from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in the United Kingdom.
On Friday Nica, of Basildon in Essex, was ordered to pay £65,157 to victims’ families through a confiscation order made at the Old Bailey, the central criminal courthouse in London, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Nica was one of five gang members jailed for the manslaughters, with others convicted of people-smuggling.
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The confiscation order made against him brings the total ordered by the court to be paid to families of the victims by the gang to £283,802 (US$357,675), the CPS said.