Essex lorry murder: Crime chiefs previously issued warnings over migrants being smuggled into Britain in freezer containers

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Rebecca Speare-Cole24 October 2019
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Crime chiefs issued warnings last year over migrants being smuggled into Britain in refrigerated containers.

The National Crime Agency warned last May of the increase in criminal gangs packing migrants into freezer containers as well as the risk to life the tactic poses.

Yesterday, 39 people, including one teenager, were found dead in a lorry container at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex.

A man, named locally as Mo Robinson, a 25-year-old from Portadown in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, is being held on suspicion of murder.

Police at the scene in Essex
Getty Images

Although it is unclear at this stage how they died, many are speculating that the 39 people were travelling in a refrigerated container.

In its annual organised crime report last year, the NCA warned that the use of certain tactics "at a high risk to life" have increased.

The NCA assessment said that people smugglers “continue to favour hard-sided refrigerated lorries”.

"The past year has seen increasing use of higher risk methods of clandestine entry," the agency said.

"These include the movement of migrants (including children) into the UK in containers, refrigerated HGVs and small boats, at a high risk to live of those migrants smuggled. "

The report also said strengthened French border security at the Channel has forced crime gangs to target other ports.

The lorry, in which the 39 victims died, may have arrived from Zeebrugge, where hundreds of migrants have been caught each month.

Warnings over routes from the Hook of Holland and Zeebrugge in Belgium, have also been issued in recent years.

The container found in Essex is believed to have travelled from the Netherlands before it was loaded on to a ferry at Zeebrugge and allegedly collected by Mr Robinson.

The NCA said that it was assisting the local force in assessing whether an organised crime group was involved before Mr Robinson picked up the container at Purfleet docks in Essex at about 12.30am, according to the Times.

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