A refrigerated container was used to smuggle 39 Chinese nationals into the UK because it evaded detection by thermal imaging equipment, security staff at the port where it entered Britain have claimed.
The container arrived at Purfleet port, Essex, on the River Thames from Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Security personnel at both ports are equipped with thermal cameras which are used to try and detect stowaways. These are used for traditional containers but not refrigerated ones.
One security official, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Thermal imaging equipment doesn’t work on refrigerated containers. They are simply too cold, and you can’t pick up any heat that might be coming from somebody hidden inside.
Scanners used to detect stowaways in lorries but sources claim they don’t work as well on refrigerated units. This is image was taken at Dover, showing migrants sitting on top of boxes inside a traditional container
The scanners take a 3D view of the truck – but the process can take up to an hour to complete meaning not all lorries are always checked
The driver of the lorry, Mo Robinson, 25, is understood to have passed out after finding the people dead in the back of his lorry
‘The smuggling gang must have known this, it just goes to show how clever they are. They are constantly looking for loopholes and sadly, it’s ended up with all these people losing their lives.’
It came as locals in Purfleet and Thurrock also told MailOnline they had often seen groups of migrants close to where 39 Chinese people were found dead in a lorry yesterday.
This is while sources also told The Times that both police and port authorities failed to react to warnings from local people thought to have been smuggling near the docks.
Residents claim that they had seen groups of migrants in the area, being loaded from lorries to minibuses.
Some also said that they had found piles of discarded passports. On one occasion, one of the migrants was also said to have approached local residents asking for shoes to wear.
Despite reporting such incidents, residents claim that local authorities failed to act.
Staff at the Purfleet dock have been warned that they could lose their jobs if they speak to the media about the 39 Chinese nationals discovered dead in a container.
Another security worker said: ‘They were able to get through Zeebrugge and Purfleet ports because the equipment we both have doesn’t pick up people in refrigerated containers.
‘These people never stood a chance. Even if the refrigerated container had been turned off, they are airtight and anybody in there for a long period of time would suffocated to death. Coffins have more air in them than these things once they are sealed shut.’
Both members of staff claimed that it is ‘impossible’ to search every container that passes through Purfleet port and only random checks are carried out.
They also claimed that refrigerated containers are rarely opened for inspection for fear that it could damage the goods inside.
The container was carried into the UK via Zeebrugge in Belgium, pictured today, where a group of migrants were arrested this morning. The lorry on the left was passing, not involved
One added: ‘This is a very busy place and you can’t go through everything that arrives here. We don’t have the equipment, personnel or the time. Bigger ports like Dover have more resources but not here.’
The port, which is run by a company called C RO Ports London, Ltd is spread across 90 acres and handles 200,000 containers, 200,000 trailers and 200,000 cars each year.
The company refused to comment on the number of checks it carries out and the use of thermal imaging equipment.
Local Chaïma Allali said she believed people smugglers often use the estate.
The 21-year-old said: ‘Migrants have been found in lorries a few times, it’s kind of a regular occurrence.
‘There have been times when there has been a helicopter and reinforcements have had to come to the lorries.
‘It’s common, there are loads of transport companies in the area with similar issues with migrants.
‘Deaths have never happened before and I am completely and utterly shocked and devastated that this has happened today.
‘These people are human beings they are fleeing from war from persecution and they only come here for a better opportunity to live a regular life like me and you today.
‘For them to risk their lives like this they deserve dignity and respect – that is why I came here to lay flowers.’
Staff working at businesses around the Waterglade Industrial Park said they had seen people they believed to be migrants in the area.
One mechanic said: ‘You see people wandering around here looking like they don’t know where they are and what they’re doing.
‘I think they’re migrants – it’s the kind of place where there are lots of comings and goings so these things often go unnoticed.’
Robinson was pictured posing in front of a truck wearing a cowboy hat and a drink in hand (left), and also previously larking with police (right)
Robinson arrived in the UK at the weekend after a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead. He picked up the trailer, which had been shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet, yesterday morning. Minutes later, he pulled into the Essex industrial estate and the alarm was raised
Two houses have been raided by police in Northern Ireland – one belonging to the lorry driver in Markethill and the other belonging to his parents in Laurelvale, both Co Armagh. A third house in Armagh City has also been raided
Final journey: How the 39 tragic migrants ended up in Purfleet, Essex, dead in the back of a refrigerated biscuit lorry