The Irish men who became international people smugglers
Updated / Friday, 22 Jan 2021
15:20
Security Correspondent, Prime Time
People smuggling takes place by day and by night – and happens hidden in plain sight. Although the crime is international in nature, Irish criminals were centrally involved in the plot that saw 39 Vietnamese people killed in 2019.
The investigation by British police into the discovery of the bodies in a container in Essex led to a massive trawl of CCTV footage.
Imagery was obtained both in England, where authorities were alerted to the container; and in Belgium and France, where the smugglers first collected and transported the 29 men, eight women and two 15-year-old boys.