Police prepare Essex death truck announcement as vehicles seized
Two trucks linked to the pair of Irish brothers wanted over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals found in a container have been seized in a raid, as authorities prepare to make an announcement on the victim’s identities.
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Detectives have seized two trucks connected to the pair of fugitive Irish brothers wanted over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals found in a container.
Irish police also seized a trailer in the raid at Dublin Port, The Sun reports.
The vehicles were linked to the logistics company run by Ronan Hughes, 40, and his brother Christopher, 34. The duo, from Northern Ireland, are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking over the deaths of 31 men and eight women found in the back of a truck in Essex last month.
It comes as police in Vietnam arrested another person in relation to people smuggling offences. There are now nine suspects being held after eight arrests were made on Monday.
Vietnamese authorities arrived in the UK on Monday to help UK police identify the victims. The county’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc today (local time) said an announcement on their identities could be made “maybe later today or tomorrow morning”, according to the BBC.
Earlier this week, Vietnam News Agency confirmed the arrests or eight people over the Essex truck deaths last month, saying the suspects were detained for “organising (and) broking people to go abroad and stay abroad illegally”.
Two other suspects were arrested in Ha Tinh province last week in relation to the Essex incident.
The bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigerated truck in an industrial park in Essex, east of London on October 23, in a case that has shaken Britain and exposed the deadly risks of illegal migration from Vietnam into Europe.
Maurice “Mo” Robinson, the 25-year-old Northern Irish driver of the refrigerated truck, has been charged with manslaughter, money-laundering and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
British police initially said the victims were Chinese, but several Vietnamese families came forward to say they feared their relatives were on the truck.
None has so far been officially identified.
Many of the victims are suspected to have come from just two provinces in central Vietnam, including Nghe An, where eight people have been arrested in connection with the deaths, police said.
“This was a very painful incident, a humanitarian accident,” said Nguyen Huu Cau, director of Nghe An police, confirming the arrests in video comments carried by the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.
“Based on what we learn from the suspects, we will actively launch investigations to fight and eradicate these rings which bring people illegally to Britain.
“The best thing to do now is to deal with the consequences of the incident and help family members receive the bodies.”
Vietnam’s public security minister To Lam said the government would endeavour to bring the victims’ bodies back to the Southeast Asian country.
“After confirmation, the government will apply the quickest possible measures to bring the bodies of the victims back home in accordance with laws,” he was cited by the People’s Police online newspaper as saying.
Brokers are rife in remote towns in central Vietnam, a hotspot for illegal migration into Europe.
DNA samples and fingerprints have been taken from several families in the area as officials in Vietnam and Britain work to identify the victims.
Families of the missing have claimed that their children had gone overseas to find work, hoping to earn money to send back home.
Britain is a popular destination for Vietnamese illegal migrants, many of whom end up working in cannabis farms or nail bars.
Those without enough money to afford so-called “VIP packages” to fly to European countries before embarking on treacherous routes into Britain — usually in trucks — often travel westward via Russia or China.
The routes can be dangerous, with some people exploited for labour in factories or brothels along the way, NGOs and experts say.
SHOCK AS 41 MIGRANTS STUFFED IN TRUCK FOUND ALIVE
Greek police have intercepted 41 men and boys in a refrigerated truck on a highway in northeastern Greece, as eight more people were arrested in Vietnam in connection to the deaths of 39 people found in a truck in Britain.
Greek police intercepted the truck on Monday (local time) after it was believed to have crossed into the country from neighbouring Turkey.
Police said all but two – an Iranian and a Syrian – were from Afghanistan, while six were minors, police said.
Eight were treated in a hospital for breathing problems.
Authorities said the refrigeration on the truck hadn’t been switched on.
Police arrested the truck’s driver – a 40-year-old from Georgia.
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The truck had Bulgarian registration plates.
Hundreds of people cross Greece’s land and sea border with Turkey each week, the vast majority hoping to make their way to other, more prosperous European countries.
– with staff writers