Three people have been jailed following the incident.
Three members of an organised crime gang have been jailed for assisting the illegal immigration into the UK of Georgian nationals, via Ireland.
The three gang members have been jailed for a total of nine years and five months at Isleworth Crown Court in London.
A further three members of the gang had been sentenced to a total of six years and six months imprisonment following earlier hearings.
According to Gardaí, the gang sought to abuse the Common Travel Area (CTA) to smuggle people into the UK via Ireland.
Their convictions followed an investigation by Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) officers which started in June of 2017 and was supported by the Cross Boarder Joint Agency Task Force (JATF).
Detective Chief Superintendent David Dowling of the Garda National Immigration Bureau spoke about the incident, saying:
“This is an example of the continued cooperation between the relevant agencies in our efforts to target all types of criminal activity, including illegal immigration in both jurisdictions.
“Garda National Immigration Bureau has collaborated and shared intelligence throughout this investigation and will continue to work closely with all our law enforcement partners”.
Deputy Director Dave Magrath, from Immigration Enforcement CFI, said:
“We are pleased that this organised crime gang who were involved in a systematic attempt to help individuals evade the UK’s immigration controls has been dismantled.
“We work closely with law enforcement partners – particularly Border Force, PSNI in Northern Ireland and the GNIB in the Republic of Ireland – to tackle abuse of the Common Travel Area.”
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