Man jailed for his role in a people smuggling operation

By Isabel Hayes

An asylum seeker who took part in a people smuggling operation, bringing 12 Albanian people into the country illegally, has been jailed for five years.

Ndricim Qema (27) was part of an operation that illegally brought Albanian people into Ireland and then “abused” the Common Travel Area agreement to help them move them on to the UK, Judge Martin Nolan said when sentencing him yesterday.

Qema, with an address at the Esplanade Hotel, Bray, Co Wicklow pleaded guilty to three sample counts of people smuggling at Dublin airport on various dates in 2019.

He also pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of money laundering, one count of possessing a false instrument and one count of using a false instrument.

Qema has been in custody since April last year. He has 29 previous convictions, mostly for theft of alcohol from shops.

John Berry BL, prosecuting, told the court that this was not a human trafficking case involving the exploitation of people and that the Albanians who came to Ireland with Qema’s help did so willingly, with the aim of finding work in the UK.

The court heard Qema came to Ireland from Albania as an asylum seeker in 2018 and was living in Direct Provision.

Detective Garda Mark Henebry told the court that Qema was arrested by the UK authorities at Belfast airport in September 2019 while attempting to travel under false documentation with another Albanian man. It emerged Qema had already been deported from the UK.

His phone was found in a car in Belfast airport car park and this turned out to be a “goldmine of information” into the people smuggling operation Qema was involved in, the court heard.

The phone contained 30 photos of false ID papers as well as messages between Qema and his father in Albania, who held a more senior position in the smuggling operation, the court heard.

There was also “a host of messages” between Qema and people in Albania who were looking to come to Ireland, the court heard.

Det Gda Henebry said gardaí were unable to ascertain how much Qema was paid per person smuggled into the country, but that he was found to have laundered a total of €44,000 in cash between 2018 and 2020.

Mr Berry told the court that at the time of these offences, it was not a crime to facilitate the moving of people from Ireland to Britain, but it was illegal to facilitate their arrival into Ireland.

He said that in relation to the 12 people smuggled into the country, “they all follow the same pattern of false IDs and abuse of the Common Travel Area arrangement between Ireland and Britain”.

Two other people are before the courts in relation to the people smuggling operation, the court heard.

Dean Kelly SC, defending, said his client was a “cog in the machine” and not the brains behind the operation.

He said this was not a case involving the “forced enslavement” of people, but a case of criminally assisting people who wished to live and work in the UK.

Defence counsel said Qema was paid a relatively small amount of money for his part in the operation and was living in Direct Provision throughout this period, with no wealth of any kind.

The court heard Qema suffers from a number of medical conditions, including epilepsy and other neurological issues.

Handing down sentence, Judge Nolan said he had no doubt that the leaders of this operation were based in Albania.

But he said Qema was an “integral part” of the operation in Ireland.

Although it was not like human trafficking, the judge said it was “a serious crime to bring 12 people into this country illegally”.

He handed down a sentence of five years and backdated it to April last year when Qema went into custody.