Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DRIVER FAINTED AT 39 DEAD IN LORRY
Cops hunt Snakehead gangsters Irish trailer owners ‘shellshocked’
THE trucker who found 39 Chinese migrants frozen in the back of his lorry fainted when he opened the trailer doors.
Maurice “Mo” Robinson, 25, is being quizzed by cops after the horrific find.
Pals said the Co Armagh man dialled 999 and then passed out. One added: “Mo wouldn’t have known those people were in the back.”
Irish firm Global Trailer Rentals, which owns the container, said it was “shellshocked”.
Police are hunting Snakehead gangsters, notorious people-smugglers with links to Chinese Triads.
THE firm who owns the trailer which was used to transport the 39 tragic Chinese migrants is “shellshocked” at the news its container was involved.
A spokesman for Dublin-based company Global Trailer Rentals Ltd said its directors were devastated over the suspected murders.
He confirmed the refrigeration unit was leased on October 15 from its yard in Co Monaghan at a rate of £238-per-week until its return.
The company contacted Essex police and gave them information about those who made the transaction and are making GPS tracker information available to detectives.
Meanwhile, the trucker who carried the migrants fainted when he opened the doors of his container lorry and saw the dead bodies.
Maurice “Mo” Robinson, 25, is still being quizzed by UK police on whether he knew that the 31 men and eight women were in his trailer unit, where temperatures were as low as -25C.
A friend claimed Mr Robinson, from the village of Laurelvale near Portadown, Co Armagh, had pulled over in Essex to grab paperwork from the refrigeration unit.
But the pal said he was shocked when he discovered the bodies and dialled 999 before “passing out”.
Another friend claimed Mr Robinson was innocent, adding: “Mo wouldn’t have known those people were in the back.
“Apparently he’d parked up at the industrial estate in Essex and had gone to fetch the paperwork from a pocket on the inside of the lorry door.
“When he opened the container up and saw all the dead bodies, he was absolutely horrified – as anyone would be – and called the ambulance service who in turn alerted the police.”
Sources said it was “very unlikely” Mr Robinson knew about any alleged plans to smuggle the migrants.
PSNI officers have swooped on three properties, including Mr Robinson’s £300,000 house. His hairdresser girlfriend is pregnant with twins and is said to be shocked over her partner’s arrest.
Yesterday afternoon Essex police hoped to hold the driver for a further 24 hours.
A spokesman said: “Detectives investigating the murder of 39 people in Grays have secured a warrant of further detention from local magistrates for a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland.
“The man, a lorry driver, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and will now remain in custody for up to an additional 24 hours.”
PSNI and gardai believe Mr Robinson left Portadown in his truck on Saturday and drove to Dublin, going through Dublin Port and on to Holyhead in North Wales by ferry.
Sources said he returned to Ireland that night and the next day, left Ireland again at 8pm through Dublin Port, once more taking a ferry to Holyhead.
It’s not known where he spent the next few days before he turned up at Purfleet docks in Essex to pick up the container at 1.05am on Wednesday.
Gardai and UK police w ere checking whether he had made another trip back to Ireland in the meantime.
The stowaways were in a sealed refrigerated trailer unit which had arrived from the port of Zeebrugge – with the village’s mayor claiming they had been dead for around 12 hours.
Belgian authorities believe the container had earlier arrived at 2.49pm on Tuesday and left the port the same afternoon, bound for the UK. The cargo ship carrying the doomed migrants docked in Purfleet on the River Thames at around 12.30am on Wednesday.
Police believe Robinson picked up the trailer around 1.05am and drove a few kilometres to the nearby Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays.
The tragic migrants had travelled from China and slowly froze to death in their giant metal coffin.
It’s believed they had have been in their tomb for at least 15 hours.
Detectives in the Republic are backing up their British colleagues in a bid to track down those responsible.
Police last night began the process of moving the bodies from the lorry to a mortuary.
The first 11 victims are being transported under police escort by private ambulance from the Port of Tilbury to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Officers are trying to identify the victims and are probing whether they
being trafficked as slaves to work in brothels, massage parlours and fast food takeaways.
Ruthless Chinese “Snakehead” people smugglers with links to the notorious Triads are feared to be behind the deaths.
They are said to tout the streets for victims with the promise of a better life before charging them thousands to undertake treacherous journeys to the West. Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office has launched its own investigation to find out where the Essex trailer originated and how long it had been in the country.
The office said it is not yet clear when or where the victims entered it.
On Wednesday night PSNI detectives raided Mr Robinson’s home and a second property in Laurelvale.
A third property in Co Armagh was searched yesterday morning.
The red Scania R620 cab was regiswere tered in the Bulgarian city of Varna in June 2017 by a firm owned by an Irish woman.
She said last night she sold it 13 months ago, adding: “It’s the cab – my name was down as owning it.”
Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he believes it is quite common for companies to register their firms in other countries, adding:
“I believe we need to look at that. I believe it is important there is no opportunity for activity of an unacceptable nature regarding the registration of trucks. It is quite common to see Irish trucking companies with their fleet having registration plates in Eastern Europe.”
Separately a Bulgarian national was questioned by police about his alleged links to the vehicle.
Official documents name Ivan Jeliazkov as having opened a bank account in April 2018 for the company.
When asked about his involvement yesterday he said: “I can’t comment because of a pending investigation.”
When he opened the trailer and saw bodies he was horrified
MR ROBINSON’S FRIEND YESTERDAY