A people-smuggler who promised to ferry asylum seekers from Indonesia to Australia will remain behind bars until at least 2018.
Said Mir Bahrami appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court for sentencing on five people-smuggling charges, two of which involved up to 12 passengers.
Judge Colin Charteris said Bahrami, who operated under a number of aliases, arranged for would-be migrants to be loaded onto unseaworthy fishing vessels that were bound for Australia but were ultimately intercepted by authorities.
Several of the passengers, who each paid several thousand dollars to secure passage to Australia, have since been granted refugee status.
"I accept that the offender was motivated by financial gain - and in the scheme of things, that financial gain was considerable," Judge Charteris said on Friday.
He said he accepted that illegal immigration was "a serious violation of this country's sovereignty and security", which could pose health and quarantine risks and cause some social problems.
One passenger told Bahrami's trial that "he had (been) told by persons working at the airport that if he stood at a particular spot, someone would arrive and take him to a hotel."
That man was picked up by Bahrami, whom he paid $US6900, and spent up to 12 days at sea before Royal Australian Naval officers boarded his vessel.
Another passenger, who shelled out $US9000, recalled being sent via Bandung, in West Java, after a warning that Indonesian police were "picking on Iranians at Jakarta airport".
But Bahrami claimed he was simply picking up Middle Eastern tourists and helping them find hotels.
Bahrami, who fought against the Soviets in his native Afghanistan before fleeing after the Taliban seized control, was arrested in Malaysia in 2011.
He has been handed a non-parole period of seven years and three months, with his total sentence due to expire in November 2022.
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