BRITAIN will see further tragedies at the hands of migrant smuggling gangs unless urgent action is taken after 39 people were found dead yesterday in a lorry in Essex, it has been warned.
There were unconfirmed reports last night that they had frozen to death.
A 25-year-old driver from Northern Ireland was arrested on suspicion of murder in the wake of the grisly discovery in a Bulgarian-registered refrigerated truck at 1.40am yesterday morning at Waterglade Industrial Park, near Grays.
The lorry driver was named locally as Mo Robinson, 25, from the Portadown area of County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
Essex Police who launched one of the UK's biggest ever murder probes said the trailer arrived via ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium, into Purfleet on the River Thames.
The Road Haulage Association warned that the gangs are a “massive issue” for lorry drivers who are targeted by the groups “week in week out”.
READ MORE: 39 bodies found in shipping container in Essex
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) called on the government to "maintain close contact with its European counterparts to ensure security systems are maintained", adding: "The safety of both the drivers and migrants must be protected."
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott sought assurances from the Home Secretary that co-operation with the EU27 on people trafficking, which she said was “vital" to ensure that such events do not happen in the future, "will not become harder or be imperilled by our leaving the EU”.
“The Opposition have long argued that the Government should establish safe and legal routes for genuine refugees to make their way here. If they do not, I fear there may be further tragedies like this,” she warned.
Essex Police said the trailer arrived via ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium, into Purfleet on the River Thames.
The ship docked in the Thurrock area shortly after midnight the force said.
It is believed the container and lorry then left the port together about 35 minutes later.
A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry confirmed the truck was registered in the country but said it was "highly unlikely" those on board were Bulgarians.
Local people were aghast as news of the tragic discovery became public. Paige Wade, who was driving past the industrial park at 4.15am on the way home from work, said: “I knew it was serious because of how many police cars and ambulances were there."
The force said it believed the tractor unit - or front part - of the lorry had come from Northern Ireland.
At a press conference at Grays police station, deputy chief constable Pippa Mills said police were as yet unable to identify the bodies.
Eric Van Duyse, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, said an investigation had been launched to establish whether the trailer travelled through Belgium.
Zeebrugge's harbour master has said they find migrants trying to stowaway "every day" at the Belgian port.
Cases of modern slavery in the UK has nearly doubled in the past year, according to The Salvation Army’s most recent report. The charity, which provides safe houses for victims, said it had assisted 86 British modern slaves in 2017/18 - a rise from 44 cases in 2015/16 and 2016/17.
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said those behind the human trafficking employ “very sophisticated” techniques to gain access to trailers and containers.
Mr Burnett said several drivers have been attacked in recent weeks and one was “woken in the early hours of the morning by gun shots”.
He said: “Drivers are facing challenges from smugglers and from gangs continuously.”
The discovery echoes an incident when the bodies of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants were found in Dover.
A major crackdown on stowaways was launched after the 58 bodies were found in a sealed, airless container at Dover port on June 18, 2000. Two young men survived the ordeal.
Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price said it was “sickening news” but it was not the first time people have been found in metal containers in her constituency.
READ MORE: Lorry containing bodies could have taken several routes to UK
She told the House of Commons: “I am sorry to say that it is an all too regular occurrence. It was only a matter of time before it ended in tragedy.
“We will not be able to stop people trafficking just in this country alone. It needs to be worked on through international partnerships to ensure that we root out these evil people who profit from people’s hope while actually putting them into misery.”
The Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Fundamentally, there is always the point of international co-operation and collaboration—we must never lose sight of that—whether it is with our EU counterparts or with other international counterparts through the many multilateral forums we work with to prevent upstream migration, illegal human trafficking and all the terrible things we want to stop and prevent.
“It is important to reflect on the fact that across all avenues and all entries - through our ports, and our airports in fact - the UK operates intelligence-led controls, and we obviously have Border Force doing checks at every single level.
“However, the fundamental principle we cannot ignore is that the fact of the matter is that we are dealing with those who are using people for the most appalling purposes.
“What we have seen and are witnessing today is one of the most horrendous crimes against humanity and crimes against individuals. That is why, because we do not know the full facts or have the full details behind what is going on, we must give the police and other agencies the space to investigate what has happened, and then we can obviously look at what more we can do to prevent instances such as this from happening again.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel