Twenty-six arrests took place simultaneously in Île-de-France and in Belgium, Tuesday, May 26, in the context of the mass truck case discovered at the end of October near London with 39 migrants on board, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office. Paris.
In Belgium, 13 people were arrested, including eleven Vietnamese and two Moroccans, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced.
The container in which the bodies were discovered came from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The joint investigation by Great Britain, Ireland, France and Belgium also resulted in 16 searches on Belgian soil.
Belgium, used as a rear base
"The network set up by the traffickers is suspected of having probably transported up to several dozen people every day for several months", underlines the Belgian prosecution. "The organization focused on the transportation of refugees from Asia, especially Vietnam," it added, and is "suspected of having made possible" the transportation of the 39 migrants discovered dead on October 23 by the British police in an industrial estate in Grays (Essex).
Since the facts, two judicial information had been opened: one in October, counts of trafficking in human beings in an organized gang, assistance to irregular stay in an organized gang and association of criminals; the other, at the beginning of March, of counts of manslaughter, trafficking in human beings in an organized gang, assistance to the illegal stay of a foreigner in an organized gang and criminal associations.
Belgium is often used as a rear base by traffickers seeking to monetize the passage of illegal immigrants to the United Kingdom, a country considered an El Dorado, in particular for the flexibility of its labor market.
Criminal organization housing and transporting migrants
The 13 individuals arrested and placed in police custody in France are suspected of participating in a criminal organization housing and transporting daily several dozen migrants from Southeast Asia, and more particularly from Vietnam, for several months.
The prosecution did not specify the nationalities, but sources close to the file, these suspects are mainly Vietnamese.
The large-scale operation was carried out in France by investigators from the Central Office for the Suppression of Irregular Immigration and the Employment of Untitled Foreigners (OCRIEST). This required the support of a joint investigation team comprising Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France under the coordination of EuroJust, the European agency responsible for strengthening judicial cooperation between States members, and with the support of EuroPol.
Conducted in France by the national court to fight organized crime (Junalco), judicial information, opened in early March in Paris, follows an investigation initiated in late 2019 after the discovery of 39 Vietnamese migrants who died in a refrigerated truck in the night of October 22 to 23, 2019 in the United Kingdom.
In November, exchanges between the specialized interregional jurisdictions (JIRS) of Lyon and Lille, initiated by Junalco, made it possible to group together the elements resulting from the investigations in progress, and to identify the immigration networks which received, housed and transported the vast majority of migrants on national territory before their departure for the United Kingdom.
Arrest in Ireland earlier this month
The case, which has international repercussions, highlights the dangers of illegal immigration, with unscrupulous traffickers taking advantage of the vulnerability of candidates, often promised precarious jobs in a state of semi-slavery in the United Kingdom.
An arrest had already taken place in May, in Ireland, that of the alleged organizer of the rotation of the different drivers having led to the drama.
In the British investigation, moreover, five people have already been charged, including Maurice Robinson, 25, the driver of the truck intercepted in Grays. In early April, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a London court.
Each candidate for the passage paid to this Vietnamese sector between 15 and 20,000 euros, according to the source familiar with the matter.
The Belgian federal prosecutor's office noted that the network remained active, even after the mass truck episode, including during the period of confinement linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
Suspects arrested in Belgium face penalties ranging from one year to fifteen years in prison and "a fine of 1,000 to 150,000 euros per identified victim," according to the same source.
With AFP
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