A 23-year-old man has been charged with human trafficking offences after the bodies of 39 Vietnamese migrants were found in a refrigerated lorry container in Essex.
Christopher Kennedy, from Darkley, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, was arrested in the early hours of Friday morning on the M40, and later charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of people with a view to exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.
Essex Police said he is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The news comes after it was revealed that one of the teenagers found dead in the trailer in an industrial park in Grays had gone missing from an asylum centre in the Netherlands.
The country’s Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) told local media the youngster had run away from a shelter for vulnerable migrants.
The agency would not give details about the name or age of the teenager.
Ten teenagers, including two 15-year-old boys, were among the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals discovered in the early hours of October 23, shortly after the lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
The driver, Mo Robinson, 25, from Northern Ireland, is expected to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
Extradition proceedings have also been launched in Ireland to bring Eamonn Harrison, 22, from Mayobridge in Newry, Co Down, to the UK.
He appeared at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on Thursday after he was arrested on a European arrest warrant in respect of 39 counts of manslaughter, one count of human trafficking and one count of assisting unlawful immigration.
Detectives have also urged Ronan Hughes, 40, and his brother Christopher, 34, from Armagh, Northern Ireland, to hand themselves in. They are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking.