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A man from Northern Ireland has been arrested in connection with the 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead inside a lorry in Grays.
The 23 year-old was stopped by officers this morning on the M40 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire with regards to the victims found inside the trailer, near the Dartford Crossing last month.
Thames Valley Police arrested the man on behalf of Essex Police on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He remains in custody.
The bodies were discovered aboard a container, which travelled from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Grays, Essex on Wednesday, October 23.
Mo Robinson, 25, was charged last month with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
Eamonn Harrison, 22, from Mayobridge, County Down, has also been charged with manslaughter.
He is believed to have delivered the container to Zeebrugge, Belgium, and is also accused of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
He appeared in a court in Dublin earlier this month charged with the deaths of the Vietnamese migrants.
Police are seeking his extradition and the lorry driver is being held in the Republic of Ireland, so he can stand trial in the UK.
Officers also want to speak to two suspects, who are on the run.
Ronan Hughes, 40, and his brother Christopher, 34, are being hunted by police on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking in relation to the deaths.
The brothers, from Armagh in Northern Ireland, have links to the Irish Republic.
Police have since released the names of all 39 people who were found dead in the refrigerated lorry.
It was revealed last week teenagers were among those dead with 10 of those named by Essex Police under the age of 20.
All of the victims came from provinces in the north of Vietnam.
The youngest two victims were aged just 15, and the oldest a 44-year-old man from Dien Chau.
The incident has lead to some MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee to call on the Government to rethink its approach to legal immigration.
Tonbridge and Malling's Tom Tugendhat, who is chairman of the committee, said it was a "wake up call".
“The case of 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex shocked us all.
"Hundreds of families across the world are losing loved ones who felt driven to take the fatal gamble to entrust their lives to smugglers," he said.
“The UK has been relatively isolated from the different migrant crises in recent years – but it’s wrong to assume that we are protected from their impact."
Eight more people have been arrested in Vietnam.
If you have any information about the case contact police on101 or online at: https://mipp.police.uk
