A smuggler has been jailed for 10 years after admitting trying to smuggle five men to the UK by lorry and intent to supply cocaine, law enforcement has said. Ibrahim Sollaku, an Albanian national from Priory Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration into the UK and possession with intent to supply class A drugs in December 2025.
The 33-year-old was arrested in Bournemouth on November 5 last year by officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU). On the same day, a Belgian law enforcement operation arrested a taxi driver and stopped five Albanian men in Bruges from boarding a lorry to the UK.
Sollaku had arranged for the taxi to take the migrants to a Belgian port where they could be loaded on to a lorry for a trip across the Channel, before being picked up by another cab in the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
During the search of his address, more than 90 street deals of cocaine were seized, along with handwritten notes relating to supplying drugs.
On Friday, he was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to seven years and six months for the smuggling offence, and a further two years and six months for intent to supply, which will run consecutively.
Detective Chief Inspector Adam Smith, from the SWROCU, said: "Sollaku is clearly a well-connected criminal, shown by his involvement in both organised immigration crime and class A drug dealing.
"He wasn't concerned with the risk or harm both of those offences cause - just in making money.
"Criminals like Sollaku look to make huge profits by facilitating illegal journeys.
"The high price tags they charge often help to strengthen their criminal networks, causing yet more harm to our communities."
Anja Hohmeyer, from the CPS, said: "Ibrahim Sollaku played a leading role in this criminal conspiracy to bring people from Albania illegally to the UK.
"This has been a successful joint operation between the UK and Belgium to capture and disrupt international people-smuggling gangs.
"Sollaku could have chosen to get a job and make a life for himself and his young family, but he's thrown that all away.
"Those who get involved in immigration crime not only risk destroying their lives but also those of their family members."
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