SNAKEHEAD GANG HUNTED
Evil people-smuggling ring from China behind 39 migrant deaths
CHINESE gangsters are feared to be behind the deaths of the 39 migrants in a lorry.
Snakehead thugs may have plotted the journey as part of a lucrative people-smuggling ring.
Police were last night given more time to quiz driver Mo Robinson after the bodies were found in his truck at Grays, Essex.
One source said: “Those who died had hopes of a future in a good country.”
THE gang feared to be behind the deaths of 39 Chinese migrants in the back of a lorry prey on people desperate to escape destitution for a better life in the West.
And a source said the heartless Snakehead thugs will feel no shame over sending the 31 men and eight women to their ends – but will be furious at the cash they have lost because they never arrived alive.
The hopes of the migrants died with them, trapped in unimaginable horror in a refrigerated truck at an Essex dockside, after travelling 5,000 miles from their poverty-stricken homeland.
Lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, is said to have fainted when he found the bodies piled up in the trailer he was pulling from Purfleet at Grays.
The 25-year-old managed to dial 999 but was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police were last night given more time to quiz him. But friends insisted he would have had no knowledge he was carrying a human cargo of tragedy.
It is feared they came to Britain with help from the Snakeheads, notorious people-smugglers with links to ruthless Triad gangsters in China.
They are said to tout the streets for victims, enticing them with the promise of a better life before charging thousands of pounds to take treacherous trips to the West in a “fly-drive” service costing £30,000.
They are usually flown from the Fujian region of China to Europe, all expenses paid, then placed in accommodation. They are then placed in goods lorries and driven in darkness, without food, ventilation, water or toilet facilities.
A source, who cannot be identified for her own safety, said: “This is not a crime in Chinese culture, this is an opportunity. It is an agreement between the Snakeheads and their customers. They are willing, they feel no shame in breaking the law.
“There is a pride that they get out of Fujian and have a chance of a good life with good money in places like
Northern Ireland, England, Scotland where there are good benefits. Yes the journey is difficult, it is uncomfortable and it is frightening, but the gamble is normally worth it. The chances of a good life is worth the risk. In this case it didn’t work. Something went wrong but the Snakeheads will just go again.
“There will be no tea rs. In Fujian there is little employment, little money or opportunity, so we get it elsewhere.
“These customers get paid as little as £200 a month in China and live in horrible conditions. In the UK, they can get £2,000 a month in a job with no responsibilities, get benefits, get married and live a decent life.
“These people who died in this container had hopes of a future in a good country. Another group will be waiting for their chance to get on a lorry now somewhere in Europe.
“This will not put them off. The plan normally works. The Snakeheads have contacts everywhere. They are practical people, not emotional. They have lost £1.2million in earnings in this. So they will go again.”
The source claimed migrants who make it to the West start paying back the Snakeheads the moment they get a job, over three years. If they cannot pay, the gangs will put pressure on their families back in China to hand over the cash.
The source spoke as police began moving the bodies of the migrants from the lorry to a mortuary.
Officers are trying to find out if driver Robinson, from Portadown, Co Armagh, knew the 39 were in the trailer being pulled by his Scania
Yes, the journey is difficult, but the gamble is worth it
SOURCE ON HOW GANGS EXPLOIT POOR IN CHINA
truck. His parents, Mark, 50, and Nichola, are believed to have flown from Northern Ireland to support their son in England. Officers searched their modern semi-detached home in the nearby village of Laurelvale.
They also raided a £300,000 home in nearby Markethill, where it is believed the suspect lives with his pregnant girlfriend. A third property in the area was also searched. A friend of Robinson said: “I’ve known Mo for years. He’s the best in the world and would give you the shirt off his back. He’s not the kind of man that would do this. He would have had no notion what was in that trailer.”
Another claimed Robinson opened the container to collect paperwork. The friend added: “He was absolutely horrified.” A Bulgarian national was questioned by police about his alleged links to the truck which is reportedly licensed there to a firm run by an Irish woman. But the person authorities claimed owned it said last night: “We sold it 13 months ago.”
The refrigerated trailer came to the UK via Zeebrugge in Belgium. It is still unclear where it started its journey.
It is owned by Global Trailer Rentals Ltd, which is based in Dublin. The firm said it was “entirely unaware the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been”.
Social Services have taken around six “unaccompanied children”, thought to be from Africa, into care after they were found in the Belfast harbour area, it has emerged.
■ Additional reporting: Nick Sommerlad and Matthew Young