Man arrested at Middlesbrough petrol station in connection with Essex lorry deaths

A man has been arrested at a supermarket petrol station in Middlesbrough in connection with the investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a refrigerated container in Essex in 2019.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said that the Vietnamese national, who is not being named, was detained at the site just off the A66 at about 1pm on Thursday.

He is wanted by the Belgian authorities, who allege he was a member of a people-smuggling network moving migrants through Belgium and France and into the UK in the back of lorries.

He is suspected of running safe houses in Brussels, where the migrants stayed before their fatal journey.

He is also accused of organising their onward transport in taxis to the collection point in France, where they were stowed in the rear of the refrigerated lorry.

The bodies of the 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, shortly after the container arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of October 23 2019.

Among the men, women and children were 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.

A Belgian investigating magistrate issued an arrest warrant in December, suspecting that the man was now in the UK and had links to the Birmingham area.

However NCA investigators were able to track him down to a location in Middlesbrough where he was detained on Thursday, in an operation supported by the North East Regional Special Operations Unit (NERSOU).

He is expected to appear before Westminster Magistrates on Friday where extradition proceedings will begin.

Miles Bonfield, the NCA's head of organised immigration crime operations, said: "This is another significant arrest in terms of identifying those involved in the events which led to the tragic deaths of those 39 migrants.

"The individual detained today is suspected by the Belgian authorities of having played a key role in placing at least 10 migrants inside that lorry.

"Working closely with partners in the UK, Europe and beyond we are determined to do all we can to get justice for the families of those who died, and disrupt and dismantle the cruel organised criminal networks involved in people-smuggling."

Earlier this year seven people were given jail terms totalling more than 92 years for their roles in the events which led to the Essex deaths, including four men who were found guilty of manslaughter.

This followed an investigation led by Essex Police and supported by the NCA.

Another Vietnamese national, a man known as Ngo Sy Tai, was arrested by the NCA in December 2020.

He is also wanted by the Belgian authorities for his alleged role in smuggling the victims.

He awaits extradition.