Human traffickers earned €12m a year

THE trafficking gang that sent eight people to their deaths in a container bound for Ireland over a year ago made at least €12m a year from their activities.

The gang leader, who has not been caught, operated the illegal business like a travel agency, specialising in sending Turks and Albanians to Britain, a court was told in Bruges yesterday.

During the second day of the trial of eight members of the gang, the prosecutor asked for up to 12 years jail for those accused of manslaughter, trafficking and belonging to a criminal gang. Freddy Van Damme, the prosecutor, estimated the Albanian Kosovo gang shipped at least 2,400 people in a year to Britain charging them €5,000 each.