A Romanian man who smuggled four Vietnamese children into Kent in a ‘coffin-like’ hide in the roof of a van has been jailed.

Nicolai Bogdan Lungan, 32, accepted an offer of €6,000 in February this year to drive a van containing hidden asylum seekers from Belgium into the UK.

The Romanian-registered Renault Master driven by him travelled by ferry from Dunkirk to Dover with children bolted shut inside.

But he was stopped by Border Force officers at the Kent port who noticed the roof above the driver was covered with padded material and was unusually hot.

When this material was removed, officers found a hatch in the van roof which led to a hide in which they found four 17-year-old children.

The migrants were found lying on bare metal in the cramped and insufficiently ventilated roof hatch, which had been bolted shut using power tools.

The children had no way of escaping from the hide without assistance.

When questioned by officers, Lungan claimed he was travelling to Glasgow to collect furniture which he intended to take back to Romania to open a barber shop.

Today he was jailed for three years at Canterbury Crown Court for assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

Chris Foster, deputy director for the Home Office’s Criminal and Financial Investigations, says the migrants were kept in “atrocious conditions”.

“I hope this sentencing sends a powerful message that breaking the law and putting individuals’ lives at risk will not go unpunished,” he said.

“My team work tirelessly to disrupt this type of illegal activity and we will continue to take action against those who put people’s lives in danger for the sake of making money.”

Last year ten people were sentenced after 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were found unresponsive in the trailer of a lorry near the Dartford Crossing.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: ”These criminal and life-threatening attempts to smuggle people, including children, into the UK in these incredibly tight, coffin-like spaces are utterly abhorrent and we will not stand for it.

“I would like to praise our immigration enforcement officers who are working around the clock to prevent this activity and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“No-one should be risking their lives to come to the UK illegally, and today’s case sends a clear message to the smuggling gangs that they will feel the full weight of the law.”