A driver has been jailed for smuggling people into Kent hidden in overhead lockers inside his lorry.

Michal Milosz Ulaszek, 27, a Polish national, was sentenced to two years and four months at Canterbury Crown Court for assisting the unlawful immigration of four Albanian nationals into the UK.

In his police interview, Ulaszek admitted to knowing the people were hidden in his vehicle and that he was to be paid in return for transporting them to the UK, although he did not disclose the payment amount.

Ulaszek was discovered to be smuggling the men in October last year, as he was leaving a ferry at Dover Eastern Docks in his lorry.

The vehicle was intercepted by Border Force officers and x-ray scanned, which revealed four people hidden in the overhead lockers inside the driver’s cab.

They were later identified as four Albanian men, deemed illegal entrants, the Home Office said, and served with immigration paperwork.

Ulaszek appeared at court last month.

Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP, said: "Our highly trained officers continue to prevent criminal activity at our borders using sophisticated techniques to keep our country safe and secure.

"I hope this conviction acts as a warning to any callous criminal gangs that we are determined to prevent further loss of life.

"Our New Plan for Immigration will fix the broken system, including by making it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry so we can truly break the business model of heinous criminals."

In the last 12 months there have been 19 convictions for cases involving Albanians hidden in lorry cabs, leading to a number of drivers being sentenced to over 39 years.

Further cases await sentencing.

In 2021, the Home Office’s Criminal Financial Investigation teams arrested 119 people in total for their involvement in vehicle-related illegal migration, which has led to 80 prosecutions in the UK, resulting in over 203 years in custodial sentences.

David Fairclough, deputy director of Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations said: "Every day our trained Border Force officers expertly search, find and stop anyone attempting to bring people illegally into the country hidden in vehicles.

"I hope this sentencing sends a clear message that breaking the law and putting individuals’ lives at risk for the sake of some extra cash is simply not worth it."