The Court of Constanta, a port city on the Romanian shore of the Black Sea, has issued prison sentences of three years and a half against two migrant smugglers, News.ro reported.

The sentences were given to a Bulgarian and a Cypriot for migrant smuggling, fraudulent border crossing and sailing without a permit. The two brought in Romania, in August of this year, 69 Iraq citizens.

The two men also have to pay RON 15,000 (EUR 3,260) in court fees and are banned from entering the country for three years after finishing their sentence.

The sentence is not final and can be appealed at the Constanta Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors from the Constanta Court of Appeals started investigating the case in mid-August, after the Border Police found in Romania’s waters, close to the town of Mangalia, a ship sailing under the Turkish flag. The 17-meter long boat was designed to carry safely a maximum of four people.

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editor@romania-insider.com