CSIDreamer
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Yet Interpol, among others, considers traffickers to be criminals and the people being hauled around like cargo to be victims. So does Websleuths.
UK - 39 bodies found in lorry, Essex, 23 October 2019
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Yet Interpol, among others, considers traffickers to be criminals and the people being hauled around like cargo to be victims. So does Websleuths.
Silverlink
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Very interesting article in the Irish Sunday Times today which seems to confirm a lot of our suspicions.
Cross-border gang linked to deaths of 39 migrants found in lorry
A criminal gang based in Monaghan and Armagh has emerged as the organisers of an international people smuggling network that stretches across Europe, following the discovery of 39 Asian migrants dead inside a refrigerated lorry container in England.
The migrants, 31 men and eight women, are believed to have suffocated after they were locked inside the refrigerated container before it was delivered to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for onward shipping to the English port of Purfleet.
The scale of the tragedy emerged when police were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park at Grays in Essex, east of London close to the M25, in the early hours of Wednesday by paramedics who had responded to a 999 call.
The gang, who purport to be hauliers, are also suspected of smuggling drugs and contraband by gardai and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), but their involvement in smuggling migrants across Europe had remained unknown to the intelligence services until last week.
Among those who perished was Anna Bui Thi Nhung, a 19-year-old who travelled to France from Vietnam before attempting to enter the UK. Some of the other Vietnamese victims, including Pham Thi Tra My, 26, texted their parents before they passed away.
Security sources last night said the gang’s activities had previously been reported to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) but it is unclear whether the agency had acted on the intelligence.
The investigation into the deaths has so far resulted in a number of arrests, all involving suspects from the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Essex police yesterday were given permission to charge Mo Robinson, a 25-year-old lorry driver from Craigavon, Co Armagh, with manslaughter over the deaths of the 39 victims and other offences including conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
Robinson is alleged to have been the driver of the lorry which collected the refrigerated container at docks at Purfleet and moved it to nearby Grays, where the alarm was raised. He will appear at Chelmsford magistrates’ court tomorrow.
Essex police are continuing to question three other suspects, including Thomas Maher and his wife Joanna, both 38, who were arrested at their home in Warrington on Friday, as they were about to leave the UK.
Maher, who is originally from Co Offaly, was due to fly to Spain where he owns a second home, which prompted his arrest. Gardai say Maher moved to Britain about 10 years ago after he came to the attention of the Irish security services, but he is known to visit the Republic.
Intelligence information available to gardai suggests Maher is an associate of the gang who operate in the north Monaghan area. His wife Joanna remains in custody. She is the registered owner of the lorry used by Robinson to collect the container, but she has publicly said she sold it to an unidentified company in Monaghan a year ago.
A 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was also detained at Stansted in Essex on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter. Police are continuing to question him.
The investigation, which now involves police forces in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain, France and Belgium, has pieced together the movements of the refrigerated container in which the migrants died.
It was leased by GTR Global, based in Monaghan, to a haulier in a nearby town earlier this month. GTR said it was “entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been”.
Information extracted from a GPS tracker attached to the container shows it was moved from Ireland to Warwickshire and Kent in England before crossing the Channel into Belgium.
Tracking data shows it later travelled to Calais and Dunkirk, where detectives believe the migrants were placed inside before embarking on what they hoped would be the final leg of their journey to Britain.
The discovery that criminals based in the border region are now involved in smuggling illegal migrants is likely to be a cause of serious concern to the gardai and the PSNI as Brexit looms.
The area is already considered a safe haven for criminal gangs involved in smuggling contraband as it is difficult to police as a result of the threat posed by republican terrorists.
William Matchett, a retired member of the PSNI who is now a senior researcher at the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Prevention at Maynooth University, said it should come as no surprise that border gangs were involved in people smuggling.
“These gangs look at it as a simple business opportunity. They have the network and ability to transport contraband around Europe so it is no surprise,” he said.
Cross-border gang linked to deaths of 39 migrants found in lorry
A criminal gang based in Monaghan and Armagh has emerged as the organisers of an international people smuggling network that stretches across Europe, following the discovery of 39 Asian migrants dead inside a refrigerated lorry container in England.
The migrants, 31 men and eight women, are believed to have suffocated after they were locked inside the refrigerated container before it was delivered to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for onward shipping to the English port of Purfleet.
The scale of the tragedy emerged when police were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park at Grays in Essex, east of London close to the M25, in the early hours of Wednesday by paramedics who had responded to a 999 call.
The gang, who purport to be hauliers, are also suspected of smuggling drugs and contraband by gardai and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), but their involvement in smuggling migrants across Europe had remained unknown to the intelligence services until last week.
Among those who perished was Anna Bui Thi Nhung, a 19-year-old who travelled to France from Vietnam before attempting to enter the UK. Some of the other Vietnamese victims, including Pham Thi Tra My, 26, texted their parents before they passed away.
Security sources last night said the gang’s activities had previously been reported to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) but it is unclear whether the agency had acted on the intelligence.
The investigation into the deaths has so far resulted in a number of arrests, all involving suspects from the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Essex police yesterday were given permission to charge Mo Robinson, a 25-year-old lorry driver from Craigavon, Co Armagh, with manslaughter over the deaths of the 39 victims and other offences including conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
Robinson is alleged to have been the driver of the lorry which collected the refrigerated container at docks at Purfleet and moved it to nearby Grays, where the alarm was raised. He will appear at Chelmsford magistrates’ court tomorrow.
Essex police are continuing to question three other suspects, including Thomas Maher and his wife Joanna, both 38, who were arrested at their home in Warrington on Friday, as they were about to leave the UK.
Maher, who is originally from Co Offaly, was due to fly to Spain where he owns a second home, which prompted his arrest. Gardai say Maher moved to Britain about 10 years ago after he came to the attention of the Irish security services, but he is known to visit the Republic.
Intelligence information available to gardai suggests Maher is an associate of the gang who operate in the north Monaghan area. His wife Joanna remains in custody. She is the registered owner of the lorry used by Robinson to collect the container, but she has publicly said she sold it to an unidentified company in Monaghan a year ago.
A 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was also detained at Stansted in Essex on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter. Police are continuing to question him.
The investigation, which now involves police forces in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain, France and Belgium, has pieced together the movements of the refrigerated container in which the migrants died.
It was leased by GTR Global, based in Monaghan, to a haulier in a nearby town earlier this month. GTR said it was “entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been”.
Information extracted from a GPS tracker attached to the container shows it was moved from Ireland to Warwickshire and Kent in England before crossing the Channel into Belgium.
Tracking data shows it later travelled to Calais and Dunkirk, where detectives believe the migrants were placed inside before embarking on what they hoped would be the final leg of their journey to Britain.
The discovery that criminals based in the border region are now involved in smuggling illegal migrants is likely to be a cause of serious concern to the gardai and the PSNI as Brexit looms.
The area is already considered a safe haven for criminal gangs involved in smuggling contraband as it is difficult to police as a result of the threat posed by republican terrorists.
William Matchett, a retired member of the PSNI who is now a senior researcher at the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Prevention at Maynooth University, said it should come as no surprise that border gangs were involved in people smuggling.
“These gangs look at it as a simple business opportunity. They have the network and ability to transport contraband around Europe so it is no surprise,” he said.
oceanblueeyes
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Human trafficking is an epidemic in many countries including the USA. We are now #1 in the world when it comes to human trafficking including human sex trafficking.
We have had many deaths of illegal immigrants as well when they were transported like cattle in large fancy semi tractor trailers. Many have contained men, women, and little dead children inside of their sealed death tombs. ;( Most of the traffickers were bringing them in across our open southern Mexico border.
The ones who do these horrible acts care nothing at all about the ones who must pay them to do so.
Our own history shows us when anyone is willing to do anything illegal it's for their own personal greed. Period.
The leaders of human traffickers everywhere are going to become the new billionaires just like the evil drug cartels have become billionaires in their own illegal acts which are killing thousands of our people every single year.
Human traffickers, no matter who or where they are do not do this with one ounce of compassion. They do it because they profit mightily.
Once these targets have paid them upfront they do not care what happens to them. That's why we see so many of them treated inhumanely by the traffickers. All they are to all human trafficker are money, as if they were hanging cattle meat inside large trucks or lorries.
More will continue to die. More women, and very young children will be raped while being led by human traffickers in their money making evil deeds.
Jmho
We have had many deaths of illegal immigrants as well when they were transported like cattle in large fancy semi tractor trailers. Many have contained men, women, and little dead children inside of their sealed death tombs. ;( Most of the traffickers were bringing them in across our open southern Mexico border.
The ones who do these horrible acts care nothing at all about the ones who must pay them to do so.
Our own history shows us when anyone is willing to do anything illegal it's for their own personal greed. Period.
The leaders of human traffickers everywhere are going to become the new billionaires just like the evil drug cartels have become billionaires in their own illegal acts which are killing thousands of our people every single year.
Human traffickers, no matter who or where they are do not do this with one ounce of compassion. They do it because they profit mightily.
Once these targets have paid them upfront they do not care what happens to them. That's why we see so many of them treated inhumanely by the traffickers. All they are to all human trafficker are money, as if they were hanging cattle meat inside large trucks or lorries.
More will continue to die. More women, and very young children will be raped while being led by human traffickers in their money making evil deeds.
Jmho
Thelastleg
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Sorry, the link wouldn't open. I've got it now. Very informative and very very sad. Thank you
HongKongPhooey
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Perhaps he was going to have them all to stay in his nice big house?
It isnt a fine line at all. It's illegal, morally as corrupt as you can get and a horrific disregard for human life. Benefitting from the sheer desperation of people in dire straits.
HayLouise
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Essex Police have issued a correction. The man from Northern Ireland is 46, not 45.
BBC Essex on Twitter
BBC Essex on Twitter
Alyce
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They either extend the bail - 3 months is a maximum now - or they charge or they release with no charge.
opalsqueak63
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Police release haulage firm boss, 38, and his wife arrested over death truck on bail after seizing cars from outside their £400,000 Cheshire home Police release haulage boss Thomas Maher and wife Joanna on bail after 39 dead in lorry arrest | Daily Mail Online
HongKongPhooey
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@hitthenick standby, they might be on their way home!
CSIDreamer
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I'm still confused by UK terms. They were arrested but not charged and let out on bail? I just need to go study their whole justice system obviously.
Mo Thuairim
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The police can release you on police bail if there’s not enough evidence to charge you. You don’t have to pay to be released on police bail, but you’ll have to return to the station for further questioning when asked.
You can be released on conditional bail if the police charge you and think that you may:
- commit another offence
- fail to turn up at court
- intimidate other witnesses
- obstruct the course of justice
D
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CSIDreamer
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Thank you.
Mrs Marple
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Well. Googling smuggling in NI brings up a lot of hits. Including the man who died in 2016 along the same route that was mentioned by EP in the identification conference.
I do wonder though they can't have used this particular trailer before because it would have happened before. Unless it was because there were so many of them, causing the oxygen to run out quicker (l realise l am assuming suffocation as COD).
The only good thing about this is MR didn't shut the doors, put the refrigeration on and find somewhere to dump them. I mean, he could have taken them back to Ireland, got all the arrangements sorted on the way and into a bog they went. Their families may never have known. But how many times has this scenario really played out that we are unaware of?
I do wonder though they can't have used this particular trailer before because it would have happened before. Unless it was because there were so many of them, causing the oxygen to run out quicker (l realise l am assuming suffocation as COD).
The only good thing about this is MR didn't shut the doors, put the refrigeration on and find somewhere to dump them. I mean, he could have taken them back to Ireland, got all the arrangements sorted on the way and into a bog they went. Their families may never have known. But how many times has this scenario really played out that we are unaware of?
CSIDreamer
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BBM. I've been wondering the same thing.
D
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Unless maybe something unique on this trip occurred that hadn’t when trailer was on other trips? An unexpected time delay, refrigeration chamber set to wrong temperature? Someone didn’t flick a switch on or off at the right time? All guess work. I believe they run on a diesel generator when unhitched from vehicle and can actually heat up as well as chill, although press assuming freezing it seems
Unless maybe something unique on this trip occurred that hadn’t when trailer was on other trips? An unexpected time delay, refrigeration chamber set to wrong temperature? Someone didn’t flick a switch on or off at the right time? All guess work. I believe they run on a diesel generator when unhitched from vehicle and can actually heat up as well as chill, although press assuming freezing it seems
This there’s more answers to be had from the fridge rental company too looking at their company and what appears to be their familial links (and with an import and export business themselves also) ... fuel smuggling, disposing of fuel laundering waste, booze shop, a racehorse, housing company that shares the racehorse name, a haulage firm as well possibly all connected to the same family it appears ...
Previous trips may have been shorter ... england to france is 2-3 hours
Zeegbrugge - Purfleet is 10hours
I understand the trailers are connected to an external electricity (the mains) whilst waiting on the docks or on the ferry.
HayLouise
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So far 24 families in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces have filed requests to the authorities asking them to help look for their missing relatives, feared dead in the #Essex #lorry incident, VnExpress reports. #Vietnamese police have begun taking DNA samples for #identification.
Nga Pham on Twitter
UPDATE: A reliable source told me the police in Ha Tinh has opened a special criminal case to investigate all the claims they’ve received, as well as allegations of human trafficking operations in/from the province #lorrydeaths #Essex
Nga Pham on Twitter
Nga Pham on Twitter
UPDATE: A reliable source told me the police in Ha Tinh has opened a special criminal case to investigate all the claims they’ve received, as well as allegations of human trafficking operations in/from the province #lorrydeaths #Essex
Nga Pham on Twitter
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