• The migrants were suffocated in a sealed lorry container in Essex in 2019.
• Draghici was a “small but essential cog” in the people smuggling operation.
• The deaths of the 39 migrants highlight the dangers of human trafficking.

Marius Draghici, a Romanian people trafficker, has been jailed for 12 years and 7 months for his role in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who died in a lorry container in Essex in 2019.

The bodies of the migrants were discovered on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, in October 2019. They had been suffocated in the container, which had been sealed shut.

Draghici admitted 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison.

The judge, Mr Justice Garnham, said Draghici “was a small but essential cog in the wheels of this criminal conspiracy” that “put would-be migrants at risk of death”.

He said the conditions in the trailer must have been “unspeakable” and that the migrants had died “a horrific and painful death”.

Draghici’s sentencing is the latest in a series of convictions for people involved in the deaths of the 39 migrants. In January 2022, Ronan Hughes, Gheorghe Nica, and Eamonn Harrison were all jailed for manslaughter.

The deaths of the 39 migrants have highlighted the dangers of people smuggling. It is a cruel and exploitative trade that often results in death or serious injury.

Draghici oversaw the migrants’ passage to the UK, working as a driver, and prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC characterised him as the “right hand man” to one of the ringleaders, Gheorghe Nica.

Nica, a fellow Romanian from Basildon in Essex, is one of four men already convicted of manslaughter, and one of 11 people in all who have been imprisoned in connection with the deaths.

The victims were a group of 39 people, including 28 men, 8 women, and 3 children. They were all Vietnamese nationals who had paid a large sum of money to smugglers in the hopes of finding better-paid work in Europe. However, they were instead suffocated to death in a sealed lorry container.

The victims ranged in age from 15 to 44 years old. They were all promised a “VIP” route to Europe, but they were instead subjected to a dangerous and inhumane journey that ended in their deaths.