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39 Illegal immigrants were found dead inside a refrigerated container on October 23, 2019. The container was found by the U.K. police at an industrial park in Gray, Essex. According to Essex police department, 8 women and 31 men were found and 3 of them were children.
The nationality of the victims are unconfirmed and the investigation is ongoing. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary of Witham, stated that it would be a “long and meticulous investigation.” The UK government announced that there is a high possibility that victims were Chinese nationals, but they are also working with the Vietnamese government since 4 of the victims were discovered to be Vietnamese nationals.
Andrew Mariner, Essex Chief Superintendent, stated that “[they] have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident” and there is a possibility that this issue is gang-related. Some experts say that a “snakeheads” might be responsible for this incident. Snakeheads are Chinese gangs that smuggle people into other countries. They uses various transporting method and charges expensive fee for their service. Illegal immigrants are promised for a better life on arrival, but many are forced into slave labour to pay for their transportation fee.
This isn’t the first tragic case of illegal immigrants in the UK. On June 20, 2000, 58 illegal Chinese immigrants were found dead inside a shipping container (BBC). There are still several cases of smuggling and illegal immigrants in the UK. These horrendous events demonstrate how some people are willing to risk their lives for a better future, especially those living in impoverished communities.
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