How gangs use refrigerated lorries to hide their human cargo because they evade scanners

In cold blood: How people-smuggling gangs use refrigerated lorries to hide their human cargo from port officials’ thermal cameras… to tragic ends

  • Scanners used to detect hidden migrants don’t work on fridge units, it is claimed
  • Security source said: ‘They are simply too cold, and you can’t pick up any heat that might be coming from somebody hidden inside’ 
  • Ports of Zeebrugge and Purfleet used because of security at Dover and Calais 

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.

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.

Scanners used to detect stowaways in lorries (pictured being used at Dover) but sources claim they don’t work as well on refrigerated units 

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 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 driver of the lorry, Mo Robinson, 25, is understood to have passed out after finding the people dead in the back of his lorry

How do ports detect migrants inside lorries? 

X-ray scanners: Lorries are driven into a tunnel where a team slowly scan the container for signs of life using X-rays and heat sensors. The process takes around an hour so lorries are picked at random. Some older scanners may not work on refrigerated containers because they contain a vacuum, it has been claimed.

Physical inspections: Border force teams or police look to see if a container has been tampered with and if necessary will open it up to check the contents.

Sniffer dogs: Teams of sniffer dogs and officers with hand scanners are often sent into a container to see if anyone is hidden behind, under or inside goods.

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.

‘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.’

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.

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

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 

SUSPECTED MIGRANTS DETAINED AT BELGIAN PORT WHERE CONTAINER WAS SHIPPED FROM 

A group of suspected migrants has been detained in Zeebrugge a day after 39 people were found dead inside a container shipped from the Belgian port.

Some of them were seen trying to climb a fence into a compound attached to a trucking company before they were intercepted by police on a busy road.

A group of eight men was then taken away after three vans arrived on the scene on Thursday morning.

Lorry drivers nearby told of their constant battle to stop migrants determined to hitch a ride on their vehicles in a bid to cross the Channel.

One had been close to the scene where the bodies of 39 Chinese people, including eight women, were discovered in a refrigerated trailer in Grays, Essex, on Wednesday shortly after it was picked up at Purfleet. 

Another driver, who is also from Yorkshire, said migrants trying to get on board their lorries ‘happens on a regular basis’, with security a large part of the job.

‘You’re expected to be on 24-hour duty,’ he said.

‘As a driver, you can only do so much to be fair.

‘Two weeks ago me and another driver pulled up together. We heard them getting in the back, about 20 moving around.

‘We pulled seven out of his trailer and four out of mine.

‘It happens on a regular basis.’

Another driver added: ‘I got stopped in Calais, went through all the checks from the French (authorities). I got to the English port, the dog came around barking at the trailer and there were four immigrants inside. I was fined £2,500.’

They also claimed that refrigerated containers are rarely opened for inspection for fear that it could damage the goods inside.

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.’

 

 

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