Driver Remanded In Prison Over 39 Dead Migrants. – TheNigerialawyer

A UK court on Monday remanded in custody a truck driver over the
deaths of 39 Asian migrants he had been smuggling, in a case that
has horrified Britain and sparked a search for their country of
origin.

Maurice Robinson, a 25-year-old from Northern Ireland known as
Mo, was charged Saturday with 39 counts of manslaughter, money
laundering and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

As bereaved families in Vietnam prayed for their missing sons
and daughters, some of whose identies emerged online, Robinson made
no statement in a brief video appearance at a court in Chelmsford,
northeast of London.

He has been scheduled to enter a plea at London’s Old Bailey
court on November 25.

The eight women and 31 men found Wednesday in a refrigerated
container in Essex, southeast England, were originally identified
as Chinese.

But several Vietnamese families have come forward since, saying
they feared their relatives were among the dead, and UK authorities
have walked back their original statement.

Mourning in Vietnam
The grim case has again cast light on the extreme dangers facing
illegal migrants seeking better lives in Europe, and reopened
debates across Britain about ways to prevent such tragedies from
happening again.

Britain is now conducting its largest murder investigation since
the July 7, 2005 London suicide bombings that killed 52 people.

Officials started collecting DNA samples from families in Nghe
An and Ha Tinh, impoverished provinces in central Vietnam where
most of the suspected victims came from.

On Monday, Vietnam said Britain had sent documents to help with
the complicated task of identifying the bodies, many of whom were
believed to be carrying falsified passports.

“The UK side has sent four sets of dossiers related to the Essex
lorry deaths… for verification coordination,” Vietnam’s Deputy
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry is gathering information on the
suspected victims, the report said, after hair and blood samples
were collected from several families.

UK authorities arrested another man wanted in the case on
Saturday in Dublin, while three others detained earlier have been
released on bail.

The man arrested Saturday is also believed to be in his 20s and
from Northern Ireland, although no details about his identity have
been released.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who campaigned for stronger
borders while pushing Britain to leave the EU in the 2016
referendum, signed a book of condolence Monday and laid flowers in
Grays, east of London, where the truck was found.

Interior minister Priti Patel was also due to answer questions
about the case in parliament.

The tragedy has plunged communities in central Vietnam into
mourning as families desperately wait for news from their missing
relatives.

Vietnamese media reported that as many as 24 of the victims
could be Vietnamese although officials have not confirmed the
number.

Central Vietnam has long been a source of illegal migration to
Britain for people seeking better lives.

Vietnamese migrants often work illegally in nail bars or
cannabis farms, heavily indebted and vulnerable to
exploitation.

AFP