Romeo Zani an illegal immigrant who had already been removed from the UK four tim (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)
An illegal immigrant who had already been removed from the UK four times snuck back in for a fifth time in a trailer taking parts to a mammoth car factory. Albanian national Romeo Zani is the subject of an indefinite deportation order but repeatedly re-enters the country after being sent back to his homeland. Zanie, 32, first came to the attention of the British authorities in 2017, when he confessed he had entered the UK in the “back of a lorry” and been working illegally.
Since then he has served prison sentences, been repeatedly removed, was once caught stashed-away on a luxury £70,000 yacht as it sailed past the Cornish town of Falmouth, popped up in various towns and cities and spent over a year in hiding. But he will now be removed for a fifth time after admitting another breach of his deportation order after he was found stashed among mechanical parts that had been transported from the continent to the Nissan plant in Sunderland.
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Appearing before Newcastle Crown Court he was sentenced to two years behind bars by Recorder Nicholas Worsley who lambasted the migrant’s “blatant attempt to flout deportation”.
The recorder told him: “This will be the fifth occasion upon which you have ended up being removed from the UK.
“This offending undermines the fabric of society and enables criminality.”
Michael Bunch, prosecuting, told how when Zani was caught in the sealed trailer of car parts he confessed he had travelled from Albania to Belgium where he paid someone £5,000 to smuggle hime into the UK.
Mr Bunch said Zani claimed he made the illegal journey because his “life was in danger” in Albania.
Zani was found in car plants heading to the Nissan factory in Sunderland (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Mark Harrison, defending, said: “He will be returned back to Albania even though he maintains it is not a safe place for him to reside. He didn’t set foot properly on UK soil, he was arrested hiding in a lorry.
“He chose the UK because he has friends and extended family here. He understands he cannot return.”
The court heard Zani was first questioned by the authorities in August 2017, when he confessed he had entered the UK in the “back of a lorry”.
He admitted he had been working illegally, had no fears about returning to Albania and signed a voluntary departure order which meant he was removed from the UK in December 2017.
Zani entered the UK again and was arrested in January 2018 then convicted in December 2018 at Bristol Crown Court for offences including possessing fraudulent identity documents, conspiracy to possess a class B drug and money laundering. He was sentenced to 20 months behind bars.
The Nissan car plant in Sunderland (Image: ChronicleLive)
On January 11 2019 he was made the subject of an indefinite deportation order and removed from the UK for the second time on March 7 2019.
By January 2021 Zani was back in the UK and identified as having returned in breach of a deportation order but was then “in hiding” and categorised as an absconder for more than a year.
In August 27 2023 he was arrested by Bedford police then in January 2024 he was arrested by West Yorkshire police, detained and launched a claim for asylum.
The asylum claim was refused on April 24 2024 and on May 3 2024 he was removed from the UK for the third time. This was also the first breach of the deportation order.
On April 13 2025 Zani was found on a yacht in Falmouth and two days later was convicted of a second breach of the deportation order at Cornwall Magistrates Court.
On June 18 2025 he was sentenced to 12 months for the breach and on August 14 was removed from the UK for a fourth time.
On December 12 last year he was back in the UK again and was found hidden in a trailer bound for the Nissan factory in Sunderland, has been sentenced to two years and will be removed for a fifth time for his third breach of the deportation order.
His attempt aboard a yacht last year highlighted a new tactic by people smuggling gangs to secretly bring illegal migrants into private marinas in the UK.
Britain’s Border Force are using extra surveillance to crack down on the method which saw one people smuggler jailed for seven years in July after being caught cramming 21 Albanians – including Zani – onto a luxury £70,000 yacht to cross the English Channel.
Bleda Bega, an Albanian national, was on the 23-foot Tacoma headed from Brest, in France, when it was intercepted by Border Force. Hidden below the deck in cramped and dangerous conditions were 20 men and one woman.
The luxury vessel, which was headed for Newquay, Cornwall, was intercepted near Falmouth.
One ex-people smuggler subsequently revealed how he smuggled dozens of Vietnamese migrants to the UK through the use of luxury yachts.
He said he would bring the yachts into private marines in seaside towns across the south east of England.
He told the BBC that smuggling migrants into the UK, whether that be via yacht or ferry, were “easy” and “low risk”, and said he was speaking out because of his anger at being jailed for a crime that was so easy to commit.
A harbourmaster on the Essex coast told of how private marinas “have no more security than a caravan site”.