A man has been convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of trafficking 12 illegal immigrants into Ireland over two years ago.
Olaitan Ilori (38), of Oak Drive, Blessington, Co Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to organised or knowingly facilitated the entry into the State on October 27th, 2004, of 14 Mauritian nationals, whom he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were illegal immigrants.
Earlier, Judge Martin Nolan told the jury to return a verdict of not guilty by direction of the trial judge in relation to two charges faced by Ilori, who has dual Nigerian and Irish citizenship.
The offences related to two Mauritian children who travelled with the 12 adults to Dublin Airport.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict on seven charges and a majority on five after deliberating for almost seven hours and staying overnight in a hotel.
It was the twelfth day of a trial that was the first case of trafficking of illegal immigrants to come before the Circuit Court.
Judge Nolan remanded Ilori on continuing bail but ordered that he should sign on twice daily at Naas Garda Station and surrender both his Irish and Nigerian passports. He adjourned sentencing to July 26th.