Police officers drive away a lorry in which 39 dead bodies were discovered sparking a murder investigation at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, on October 23, 2019. AFP / Ben STANSALL
Police officers drive away a lorry in which 39 dead bodies were discovered sparking a murder investigation at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, on October 23, 2019. AFP / Ben STANSALL
Police officers drive away a lorry in which 39 dead bodies were discovered sparking a murder investigation at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, on October 23, 2019. AFP / Ben STANSALL
Police officers drive away a lorry in which 39 dead bodies were discovered sparking a murder investigation at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, on October 23, 2019. AFP / Ben STANSA

Sixth man arrested over lorry with 39 dead Vietnamese migrants


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A man from Northern Ireland has been arrested in connection with the investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people who were found dead inside a container in England last month.

A 23-year-old was arrested by Thames Valley Police, on behalf of Essex Police, on Friday morning on the M40 motorway in Buckinghamshire, south-east England.

The man, who hasn’t been named by authorities, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and to assist unlawful immigration. Police say he’s in custody.

Six people have now been arrested in connection with the incident. The 39 bodies were discovered in a refrigerated lorry container in Essex, southeast England on October 23, after being smuggled into the UK.

Essex Police confirmed earlier this month that among the dead were 31 males and eight females, between the ages of 15 and 44.

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, Northern Ireland, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, and money laundering.

He is in custody and is due to appear at the Old Bailey in London on Monday.

Eamonn Harrison, 22, from Mayobridge, Northern Ireland, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, human trafficking and immigration offences. UK authorities say that Harrison drove the truck to Zeebrugge in Belgium before it was handed over to Robinson. He is in custody in Dublin, Ireland and is awaiting extradition to Britain.

Three other people, including a 38-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man, have all been released on bail pending further enquiries until January 2020. No further information was given by Essex Police on their connection to the smuggling attempt.

Brothers Ronan and his younger brother Christopher Hughes, from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking. The siblings are said to have links with the road haulage and shipping industries. Several others have been arrested in Vietnam.

More than $110,000 (Dh 404,000) has been crowdfunded to help support the families of 39 people. The money will be used to help pay for the costs of flying the bodies back to their families in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has also offered loans to the relatives of the victims.

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”