Small boat smuggler who fled to Spain jailed

A man who fled to Spain to avoid trial for smuggling people in small boats to the UK has been jailed.

Albanian national Arsen Feci, 46, from Nottingham, was extradited back to the UK and sentenced to five years and four months in prison at the city's crown court on Monday.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers started an investigation after a coastguard plane spotted migrants being offloaded from a boat in Joss Bay, Kent, in the early hours of 9 October 2022.

Four other gang members involved in the smuggling operation have already been sentenced.

Feci, alongside Banet Tershana, Klodian Shenaj, Jetmir Myrtaj and British national Desmond Rice, used the same location in Kent for a second crossing later that month, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

A second vessel - a rigged-hulled inflatable boat - was purchased and investigators established Feci was responsible for purchasing equipment for the crossing, with CCTV showing him buying several items from Halfords.

The NCA put the group under surveillance as the boat began its journey from the UK to Belgium on 29 October and alerted Belgian police who intercepted it as it landed on the coast near Nieuwpoort in the early hours of 30 October.

Officer found 12 migrants, including a woman and a child, being loaded on to the boats along with six life jackets that were unsuitable for use at sea.

The boat's two pilots were prosecuted in Belgium and subsequently jailed while Feci and four other members of the organised crime gang were arrested in the UK over the weeks and months that followed.

Tershana, Rice, Myrtaj and Shenaj were jailed for their part in the crossings in August 2023 but Feci fled to Spain after being bailed.

He was eventually extradited back to the UK in November 2024.

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to the UK and was jailed.

NCA branch commander Derek Evans said: "Feci is the final piece of the puzzle in this organised people smuggling group, taking migrants on dangerous journeys across the Channel and undoubtedly making significant money as a result.

"While he may have tried to distance himself by not being involved in the purchase of the boat, he was integral in finding people to pilot the vessel and buying equipment to ensure the crossings were a success.

"Feci thought he could avoid justice by fleeing to Spain but our international reach and assistance from partners saw him brought back to the UK where he pleaded guilty to the charges against him."

Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.