An Albanian illegal immigrant deported last year came back to the UK on a dinghy and was caught dealing drugs for a second time, it emerged today.
Valentin Roci, 27, told Basildon Crown Court he had re-entered the UK on a dinghy after already being arrested and deported in 2024.
He claimed he had forced to deal drugs to pay off a £4,000 debt to the smuggling gang.
But Judge Shane Collery KC told Roci he didn’t believe him as the Albanian had already been caught possessing drugs a year prior.
He ordered the drug-dealer be deported for a second time and the cash he was carrying be donated to charity.
Prosecutor Philippa Page said Roci was caught by police on March 21, when they intercepted a Ford Mondeo with a missing brake light in Southend, Essex.
Roci was behind the wheel, but was not the insured driver.
Organised crime gangs in Essex are known to insure cars in false names, said Mrs Page, and “the defendant kept trying to touch his groin, and the officer suspected that he could be concealing drugs.”
Police searched Roci and found he had £1,195, eight wraps of cocaine and one wrap of cannabis.
After his arrest, he answered “no comment” to all police questions and refused to provide his address or the pin code to his phone.
Mrs Page said: “There’s not a great deal of evidence to show where in a drugs supply pecking order he was.”
He ultimately pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply, possessing cannabis, possessing criminal property (the cash), driving without insurance and driving without a licence.
Mrs Page told the court Roci had been arrested in 2024 for possessing drugs with intent to supply and for illegal entry into the country.
The drugs case was dropped because the authorities decided to simply deport him.
The prosecutor added: “It appears he has returned to the country and entered illegally.”
Defence lawyer Olivia Rawlings said: “Mr Roci came here in a dinghy and that generated a debt of £4,000 to the people who got him here.
“My instructions are that he owed a debt to those who brought him into this country and they them put him into work.”
However Judge Collery said: “I’m not convinced by that.
“He’s been out of the country once before and has come back in. He’s got a car and he’s got £1,195.
“It feels more like somebody who is doing this for money, frankly.”
Mrs Rawlings said Mr Roci had told her his cut of the money he was carrying was only £200.
She said: “He would have handed over the rest. He would be told what drugs to drop where.”
Judge Collery said he would sentence Roci on the basis that he had a significant role in the drug-dealing gang.
The judge said: “You have the notable and slightly unusual feature that you were deported last year because they found you in possession of drugs.
“They chose to deport you in preference. That was April – and plainly, within months, you were back in the UK…
“That suggests that there is a strong economic reason that is drawing you back to the country.
“I don’t accept, necessarily, that you came here and were working off a debt. There’s not a shred of evidence to support that.”
Had Roci supplied his phone pin to police, said the judge, the officers might have found messages sending him instructions on what to deliver where, suggesting a lesser role.
He sentenced Roci to 30 months in prison and said he would be deported after serving his sentence.
Judge Collery added: “I recommend that you are deported.
“It is plainly not conducive to the public good to have you in this country.”
He ordered that the £1,195 seized from Roci be donated to the Essex Community Foundation and the car Roci was driving be kept by the police.