A people smuggler has laughed off the fate of the 39 migrants found dead in a shipping container, saying: ‘It is the luck of the draw.’
The British-based trafficker made the cruel comment as he offered to sneak an undercover reporter into the UK using the same route which ended in such tragedy last week.
Separately, Maurice Robinson, the 25-year-old lorry driver who went to collect the container, was last night charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.
Just hours after news of the appalling discovery of the bodies last week, our reporters discovered that a UK-based Albanian using the pseudonym ‘Kace Kace’ was offering to help smuggle migrants into the country.
The Mail on Sunday has established that he is, in fact, called Kastrijot Ahmati and lives in Walthamstow, North East London. He claims to have been illegally smuggled into the UK in the back of a lorry himself.
Kastrijot Ahmati, pictured, advertises his trafficking services, displaying his phone number on a Facebook page called ‘Albanians in London.’ He said that he came to London on the back of a lorry himself and referred to the deaths of the 39 people in the container in Essex this week as ‘the luck of the draw’
Ahmati advertised his services and posted his mobile number on a Facebook page called ‘Albanians in London’, which has more than 16,000 followers.
When an undercover reporter contacted him, he told her she could pay £17,000 for ‘fake papers’ that would allow her to fly from the Albanian capital, Tirana.
Alternatively, she could pay £14,000 to be stowed away in the back of a lorry from Belgium – the origin of the container in which the 39 people died last week.
Speaking on Friday, just two days after the grim discovery at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, Ahmati told the undercover reporter that the trip from Belgium can take between 12 and 16 hours, depending on whether ‘the ferry is delayed’.
‘I have done it myself,’ he said. ‘I am trying to find you the easiest way, do you understand?’
The reporter claimed she wanted to travel with another family member, but she was told they would have to be smuggled with other migrants otherwise the people trafficking gang would makes ‘no profit’.
She would pay on arrival in the UK, but Ahmati demanded the details of a friend in London who would guarantee the money.
When the reporter said she was ‘scared’ because of last week’s tragedy, the trafficker replied: ‘It is the luck of the draw. That is how we all came.’
When she continued to voice her fears, saying, ‘We will die’, Ahmati simply laughed.
The trafficker is believed to be from Has, a district in northern Albania, from which hundreds of migrants are thought to have left for the UK. It is not known how long he has lived in Britain, although Facebook posts suggest he has been here since at least September 2018. Earlier this month, he posted a video of himself smoking a cigarette and strolling around outside a London train station.
When approached for comment last night, Ahmati answered the phone and confirmed he was in the UK. Speaking via a friend, he claimed he had been ‘joking’ in the messages posted online and during the telephone call. In response to a WhatsApp message asking him to explain his actions, he replied ‘why’. His ‘Kace Kace’ Facebook account was taken down shortly afterwards.
Our investigation found Ahmati was one of four agents using the ‘Albanians in London’ Facebook page to help migrants smuggle their way into the UK.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) last year said Albanian gangs operating at the ‘higher end of sophistication’ were largely responsible for the surge in migrants being smuggled into the UK.
The total number of known victims of modern slavery and trafficking rocketed by 80 per cent between 2016 and 2018 to 6,993, according to NCA figures. The victims came from 130 countries with the most foreign nationals – 1,625 – coming from Albania.
Last night David Wood, former director-general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office, explained how Albanian traffickers operated: ‘What tends to happen is the groups have agents in source countries. That will include China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent. ‘These agents will be peddling the mythical, “Get to the UK, it’s the land of milk and honey”.’
Last night our dossier of material, including Ahmati’s identity, was made available to the Metropolitan Police. A force spokesman said any relevant information would be passed to investigating officers.
Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter after the bodies of 31 men and eight women were found in the back of a lorry he was driving in Essex, police have confirmed.
Maurice Robinson, 25, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter over the Essex migrant tragedy
The lorry driver, 25, will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday also charged with conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
An Essex Police statement said: ‘The Crown Prosecution service has authorised Essex Police to charge a man in connection with investigating the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found in Grays on Wednesday.
‘Maurice Robinson, 25, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, Northern Ireland was arrested shortly after the discovery was made at the Waterglade Retail Park.
‘He is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday 28 October charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.’
Robinson, from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, was arrested on Wednesday after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in the back of a refrigerated trailer he was driving in Grays, Essex.
Essex Police confirmed on Saturday that two further men and a woman also remained in custody.
A statement added: ‘Three other people have been arrested in connection with this investigation.
‘A 38 year-old man and a 38 year-old woman from Warrington and a 48 year-old man from Northern Ireland, who were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter, remain in custody.’
The charges come after a man wanted in connection with the investigation was arrested at Dublin port on Saturday. Gardai said the man, who is in his early 20s and from Northern Ireland, was held over an unrelated outstanding court order.
He is understood to have been sought by Essex Police as part of their probe, and the force confirmed officers are in touch with Irish police.
In Cheshire, police sniffer dogs were today scouring the £400,000 detached home of a haulage boss and his wife – the last known owners of the lorry carrying 39 migrants who froze to death.
Joanna Maher, 38, and her husband Thomas, also 38, from Warrington, were arrested on Friday in a dawn raid and have been held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter.
And yesterday, a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was detained at Stansted Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter, Essex Police said.
Gardai Police said this afternoon: ‘Earlier today at Dublin Port An Garda Siochana arrested a male in his early 20s from Northern Ireland on foot of an outstanding court order for an offence in this jurisdiction.’
The man was due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice on Saturday afternoon.
In Belgium, police are hunting the driver who delivered the trailer to Zeebrugge, the port it left before arriving in the UK.
All of the victims have now been moved from the truck in Tilbury Docks to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, for post-mortem examinations to be carried out.
It is said police have begun looking through bags and mobile phones belonging to the 39 migrants.
The belongings form part of more than 500 pieces of evidence that Essex Police are sitting through in bid to identify the victims and who trafficked them into Europe.
It was initially believed the victims were all Chinese nationals, but Vietnamese men and women are now feared to be among the dead.
Vietnamese ambassador to the UK, Tran Ngoc An, spoke to Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday night before meeting investigators from the National Crime Agency and Essex Police.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore told reporters on Saturday that the ambassador had visited the Civic Centre in Grays to pay tribute to the victims.
An Essex Police statement said: ‘The Crown Prosecution service has authorised Essex Police to charge a man in connection with the investigating the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found in Grays on Wednesday’
DCI Pasmore said the nationality of the victims is not yet known, but the focus is now on the Vietnamese community – although ‘there may be other nationalities involved’.
He said there were ‘very, very few’ identity documents recovered and that police will share fingerprints with Vietnamese authorities in a bid to identify the bodies.
Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said she would give no more details about the nationalities of the victims until formal identification had taken place.
It comes as police were still searching the Cheshire home of Mr and Mrs Maher on Saturday, with neighbours reporting seeing sniffer dogs going in and out of the property.
Three police cars were also stationed outside the family home in Warrington, Cheshire as well as a dog car.
Earlier today, MailOnline revealed the couple were arrested after they flew back into the UK. The couple have a family home in Spain but often travel to Ireland and Bulgaria.
The businessman made a visit to Bulgaria earlier this month to meet the man who registered the truck there in 2017. It was apparently sold on a year ago.
Mr Maher met with Ivan Jeliazkov and stayed at his home.
Mr Jeliazkov registered the Scania lorry in April 2017 for Mr Maher and his wife Joanna and the lorry was subsequently said to have been sold on last year.
But the two men were not just alleged business associates but were reportedly good friends who have also met in Britain.
Thomas Maher and his wife Joanne were arrested at 4am yesterday from their Cheshire home over the deaths of 39 migrants. They had just returned from being abroad
Mr Jeliazkov, who operates as a haulage registration facilitator from a ground floor office in a run-down apartment block, said he sent the Mahers gifts for their home and they sent him photographs of their children.
Mr Jeliazkov handled the registration of the lorry and said the fee was around £400.
Police said the lorry left Varna the next day and never returned.
He said: ‘I first met them in the early 2000s when I was based in Rochester, Kent. I was a student.
‘Thomas’s health hasn’t been good and he went to Turkey for medical care and then came to Varna and stayed with me a couple of weeks ago for a few days.’
He said the reason the lorry had been registered in Varna in Mr Maher’s wife’s name was because the taxes and associated costs were cheaper than in the UK.
Police were today still searching their home and neighbours saw sniffer dogs going in. Three cars were also stationed outside the family home in Warrington, Cheshire as well as a dog car
The couple’s three cars were today still on the driveway (pictured, police remain at the property)
He said: ‘Thomas has been unwell for a few years with a heart illness and he had to put his company into his wife’s name and that is how her name is on the register.’
He said he had handed the registration certificate to local police and could not remember the number plate details.
Mr Jeliazkov said he had been asked by Bulgarian police if he knew anything about the organisation behind the trafficking and the lorry’s fateful trip and declared he had no knowledge.
He added: ‘I have cleared my name and Thomas and Joanna are 100 per cent innocent too.’
Mr Jeliazkov spoke by telephone with the Mahers hours before police swooped and he said they reiterated in the conversation that they had sold the lorry in December 2018 to an Irish company.
He said: ‘They are 100 per cent not criminals. I have known them for several years and know they have three children who they love very much. They are good people.’
He said the business was registered on the ground floor of a at a 10-storey residential block in Varna.
He added: ‘My company is registered there so the fact I’m not present at the address does not mean the address is a shell company or fake address.
‘I knew the couple well they are my friends. Everything is legitimate. There is nothing illegal about registering a company in Bulgaria.
‘I am an official representative of their company and the taxes are lower here to register a truck but that’s no crime and there is nothing wrong in having foreign investment in Bulgaria.
‘This is a smear campaign against them. The authorities abroad are investigating a serious crime.
‘When I spoke with them they were surprised that the media were showing an interest in them as they have had nothing to do with this lorry since they sold it.
‘I am going to help them by talking to the police here. I have given the registration certificate to the Ministry of Transport in Bulgaria.’
The Mahers told MailOnline they sold the lorry cab a year ago to a company in Ireland.
The refrigerated trailer in which the 39 trafficking victims died is believed to be owned by a rental firm in Dublin.
Mr Jelyazkov added: ‘It is true that the Bulgarian lead ends with the registration plates of the truck.
‘After that we don’t have anything to do with it and the truck has not been back to Bulgaria.
‘It was not loaded with those people in Bulgaria. It is a massive tragedy. Human trafficking is a very serious topic in society.
‘When I saw the picture of the Vietnamese girl who died, I was very upset.’
He said he did not believe Bulgarian police would be interested in him.
‘I have not been arrested. There is no reason for me to be arrested or charged with anything’, Mr Jelyazkov added.
‘There has been no crime committed on the territory of Bulgaria. There are no Bulgarian citizens harmed.’
The night before his arrest, father-of-three Mr Maher, 38, said: ‘We’ve just flown back from abroad. I have told the police we are back. I’m just about to take the kids out for a meal.’
Hours later they were arrested. One neighbour said: ‘I looked out and saw Tom in the door way watch as a police van left. I think Joanna was arrested first.’
The couple’s three cars, worth more than £150,000 including a white Chevrolet Corvette, a Range rover Discovery and a Range Rover Sport, were on Saturday still on the driveway.
The couple have three children including two sons, aged 18 and 11, and a 15-year-old daughter. Mr Maher has insisted he sold the lorry on October 3 last year after owning it for a year.
He told MailOnline before his arrest: ‘It’s disgusting what’s happened – it’s horrible. I went to the British police as we were registered owners in Bulgaria.
‘I phoned them myself. They were happy we had come forward. They are well aware of who they are dealing with in southern Ireland.
‘It’s not nice to be associated with this. We’re shocked.’
He added: The police said thanks for ringing and I told them I was at home. I told the police who the previous owner was.
‘The police took my phone number and email address. Seeing all this wasn’t nice.
‘I would just like the police to get on with their investigation.’
Hairdresser Mrs Maher said: ‘My name was down as owning the lorry cab. But we sold it a year ago. It’s nothing to do with us now.’
It comes as detectives are continuing to question three people over the deaths of the 39 migrants – including Mr and Mrs Maher.
A 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was detained at Stansted Airport on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter, Essex Police said.
On Thursday, detectives were granted more time to question driver Robinson after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in the refrigerated trailer in an industrial park in Grays in the early hours of Wednesday. He was charged with 39 counts of manslaughter on Saturday.
Essex Police initially believed the victims were all Chinese nationals, but Vietnamese men and women are now feared to be among the dead.
The BBC said it has been in contact with six Vietnamese families who fear their relatives are among the dead, with some having the smuggling fees repaid.
Relatives of 26-year-old Pham Tra My told the broadcaster they had not been able to contact her since she sent a text on Tuesday night saying she was suffocating.
‘I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed,’ she wrote.
‘I am dying, I can’t breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad. I am sorry, Mother.’
Her family said they had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled into Britain, which has now been repaid.
Parents Nguyen Thi Phong and Pham Van Thin, told CNN it was ‘very painful’ to receive the text – saying she must have known she was going to die when she sent it.
‘I’ve lost both my loved one and my money,’ her father Pham said, claiming he and his partner scraped together the money to pay for their daughter to travel to the UK.
In Vietnam, Nguyen Dinh Gia, the father of 20-year-old Nguyen Dinh Luong, feared his son was among the container victims.
Pham Thi Tra My (left) had texted her mother whilst taking the journey to the UK. The family of Nguyen Dinh Luong (right) are also concerned for his safety
Her parents, Nguyen Thi Phong and Pham Van Thin (right), have said it was ‘very painful’ to receive the text – saying she must have known she was going to die when she sent it
He had not spoken to his son since last week when he told his father he was trying to reach the UK by joining a group in Paris.
‘He often called home but I haven’t been able to reach him since the last time we talked last week,’ Nguyen Dinh Gia told the Associated Press.
‘I told him that he could go to anywhere he wants as long as it’s safe. He shouldn’t worry about money, I’ll take care of it.’
He explained his son left Vietnam to work in Russia in 2017 and had since passed through Ukraine, Germany and France.
If the fridge on the hermetically sealed trailer was not running there would be no air coming in, suffocating people inside, according to Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association.
Final journey: How the 39 tragic migrants ended up in Purfleet, Essex, dead in the back of a refrigerated biscuit lorry
It is not yet known when the victims entered the trailer, where temperatures can be as low as minus 25C if the fridge is activated, or the exact route it travelled.
Belgian officials said the trailer arrived at Zeebrugge at 2:49pm on Tuesday and left the port the same day en route to Purfleet.
The trailer arrived at Purfleet at around 12:30am on Wednesday, and was picked up by the cab, known as the tractor, which arrived from Northern Ireland via Holyhead in North Wales on Sunday.
The lorry left the port at Purfleet shortly after 1.05am before police were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park on Eastern Avenue in Grays at 1.40am.
China has called for joint efforts to counter human smuggling, while vigils have been held in London and Belfast to pay tribute to the victims.
The Vietnamese embassy in London has said some families have contacted them asking about relatives but it is yet to receive any information from police.