BROTHERS HUNTED OVER LORRY DEATHS
BY MATTHEW YOUNG POLICE probing the deaths of 39 people in a freezer lorry are hunting two brothers.
Ronan Hughes, 40, and Christopher Hughes, 34, are both wanted on suspicion of human trafficking and manslaughter.
The pair, from Armagh in Northern Ireland, are believed to run a haulage business.
Essex Police Detective Chief Supt Stuart Hooper, leading the investigation, said: “Finding and speaking to the brothers is crucial. We believe they are in Northern Ireland but they also have links to the Irish Republic.”
The bodies of the eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigerated trailer attached to a
EXCLUSIVE BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN in Nghe An province, Vietnam Police hunting the Vietnamese mastermind behind the Essex lorry horror are believed to have identified the kingpin.
A special task force is searching for a man known as Mr Truong who, it is claimed, has made millions from desperate families.
Officers in Ha Tinh province and neighbouring Nghe An, where at least 24 of the dead are believed to have come from, consider him to be the head of the “global ring” in the region.
A source said: “As much as these gangs like to hide in the shadows, their names are being whispered in the community.
“While they now threaten the families who were smuggled with violence to keep them silent, each day the police are building up a picture on the operation Truong oversees.”
It is understood that the parents of 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My, who died in the lorry after texting her mum, paid Truong £17,000, the first part of a £31,000 fee to smuggle her into the UK.
Her brother said it was her second attempt to enter the the country, having earlier been caught and returned across the Channel.
Her heartbroken father Pham Van Thin, who with his wife Nguyen Thi Phong earns £155 a month, said: “The smugglers said that this was a safe route, that people would go by plane, car.
“If I had known she would go by this route, I would not have let her go.” not yet known when the victims entered the trailer, which can reach minus 25C, or its exact route.
Officials in Belgium said it arrived at Zeebrugge at 2.49pm on Tuesday and left the same day heading for Purfleet in Essex.
It was picked up at around 12.30am on Wednesday by the cab, which had arrived from Northern Ireland via Holyhead.
It left shortly after 1.05am. Police were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays 35 minutes later.
Officers from Essex and Northern Ireland are expected in Dublin to question a man about the people trafficking route in Europe and smuggling gangs.
He is in protective custody.