A LATVIAN van driver caught smuggling seven illegal immigrants into Poole port has been jailed for 32 months.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Ojars Bricis had been detained after disembarking from the Barfleur ferry at 6.30am on August 2 this year.

He told police officers his Transit van contained tyres.

But a search of the vehicle uncovered seven people of Mid-Eastern appearance hiding “behind a wall of tyres”.

Various items were seized, including a receipt for 120 tyres, food bought in Cherbourg for several people and a Poole ferry ticket for one adult.

Investigations revealed how Bricis, whose wife and children still live in Latvia, had left the UK through Dover a fortnight earlier.

The father-of-two, who has been in custody since his arrest, admitted helping asylum seekers to enter the UK.

In his defence, Robert Gray said: “The defendant had no idea just how serious this offence was.

“This is not a repeated offence; there is no history of violations of this kind.

“It was not committed over a long period but a one-off event. The people transported were not children and he was not the ring-leader. He had debts in Latvia and had come to England for a holiday and to look for work. He was the ‘donkey’ and is really sorry for what he did.”

Sentencing Bricis, who followed court proceedings with the help of an interpreter, Judge Christopher Harvey Clarke QC told him: “You pleaded guilty to a very serious offence. For financial gain you were bringing illegal immigrants into this country.

“I am satisfied that you were not the organiser of this criminal enterprise but, nonetheless, I must pass a sentence upon you to deter anybody else from doing anything similar.

“I regard your offence as similar to importation of drugs – in your case you were trafficking people.”