Lorry Tragedy

[Square Ball]

I think the police have up to around 5 or 6 o'clock to charge or release Mo. the social media campaigners know as much as we do. Stories starting to come out about missing family members mostly from Vietnam

[Square Ball]

Essex police to make a statement at 6

[Square Ball]

So a 4th arrested from an airport, looks like he was doing a runner

[Gabriel_Hurl]

from NI as well

[trileacman]

Essex police to make a statement at 6

They seem like a woefully inept police force, every statement seems to be incorrect, ie the unit arriving from Holyhead, the victims being all chinese, I mean can they not f**king clearly accertain the facts before announcing something.

[Square Ball]

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills.....This was a "fast moving" investigation she added, as it became clear the focus is increasingly being made on Ireland

[Square Ball]

Is Mo Robinson past the time he is either charged or released?

[RedHand88]

Is Mo Robinson past the time he is either charged or released?

I thought it was tomorrow night but I could be wrong.

Is Mo Robinson giving up names? Possible plea bargain? Who knows what's going on.

[yellowcard]

Is Mo Robinson past the time he is either charged or released?

I thought it was tomorrow night but I could be wrong.

Is Mo Robinson giving up names? Possible plea bargain? Who knows what's going on.

If Mo Robinson is completely innocent then he has already been completely smeared by association and his life will never be the same again after what he witnessed and has gone through since.

I see where Michaela McCollum is now releasing a book on the Peru 2 drug mule smuggling operation. I think that just shows a lack of self awareness in still trying to profit from a crime.

[Eamonnca1]

Do they have plea bargaining in the UK?

[screenexile]

Do they have plea bargaining in the UK?

Pretty sure any assistance given to police is taken into consideration.

[give her dixie]

The GPS tracking information handed over by the rental firm has been very informative and shines a light on it's movements.

Not only that, but the fact that several Vietnamese people are missing has opened a new line of inquiry. 

Apparently the trailer was rented in Monaghan, travelled north, then crossed from Dublin to Holyhead overnight on Tuesday of last week.. It then crossed from Dover to Calais later that night, and was in France on Thursday. It has stopped at known migrant camp arrears. It has then apparently made a crossing from Zeebrugge to Tilbury, and back before it returned on that fateful night last Tuesday. Did that previous trip contain migrants? The pin point accuracy of the tracker will show exactly every movement of that trailer from the minute it left Monaghan on rent, until it stopped in the Industrial Estate. 

If the text message from the girl saying they couldn't breathe is to be from the fridge, then we can rule out that they froze to death. Something else went wrong. There are a couple of fridge issues that could be to blame.

If I was guessing, when the driver arrived to collect the trailer, he knew something was wrong temperature wise,
but couldn't open the door as it was sealed, and it might be checked at exit from port.
He hooks up and then drives a couple of mile into the Industrial Estate to check.

Breaking the seal isn't an issue at this stage......

He opens the doors, see's the carnage.
Ambulances are called, and then they call the police.
Driver arrested.

This evening on the news I listened to a Vietnamese official in London say that from what they know so far is that
families were paying up to £30,000 to get someone to the UK. They would be taken to China and given a false identity. (which could explain why the police initially thought they were Chinese), and then fly to Belgium or France as tourists.
Then they would meet up with contacts, and put in on trailers to the UK.

Vietnam is the 3rd largest number of people who are victims of human trafficking

He described it as people trafficking on an Industrial Scale.

BBC news had interviews with Vietnamese people in camps close to the ports in France saying they were waiting for the call to go and it was costing them up to £30,000.

The couple arrested in Warrington used to own the lorry. They said they sold it to a company in Monaghan last year. While I have heard that the lorry belonged to a company in Monaghan, I have read that the driver owned the lorry himself. Could he be the company in Monaghan who bought the lorry?

Could both parties be linked in all of this perhaps?

Journalists have been going to the house of the alleged link in Monaghan, and they have got short shift.
The Gardai have apparently said they are satisfied that there isn't a big Irish connection.

Considering people were prepared to pay £30,000 to get to the UK, it fair to say that the most difficult part is crossing the channel. Therefore, that would  mean that possibly £10,000 per person would go to those covering this part.

That's almost £400,000 for that load that went wrong. How many others got through?

I know of a large haulage firm who turned £70 million and only made £650,000 last year. 

The scale of profit on this is staggering, and it's not hard to see the attraction of it for certain people.

There can't be much lower forms of making money than trafficking people like a product or commodity.

It's like a slave trade.

[Dougal Maguire]

It's not like the slave trade it IS the slave trade

[Square Ball]

Route used to traffic 39 migrants similar to network used by Irish drug gangs

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/essex-lorry-deaths-route-used-17150670#ICID=Android_BelfastLiveNewsApp_AppShare

Love the use of the term, an "underworld source"

[marty34]

Yeah, it is the modern day slave trade.
If they have passports (fake) to fly to Belguim etc., why would they not fly into an English airport?  Surely, trying to get in on lorries and containers is risky, never mind dangerous.