POLICE IN NORTHERN Ireland today arrested a man in Co Down in connection with the death of an Afghan migrant who was found in an airtight container at Tilbury Docks near London last weekend.
The 34-year-old, from Limavady Co Derry, was stopped by the PSNI on the A1 motorway at Banbridge this morning, and arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration into the UK.
According to a statement from the PSNI this afternoon, detectives also carried out searches on a number of properties.
The suspect is currently at the Serious Crime Suite in Antrim police station, and will shortly be transferred to Essex, where the investigation is being conducted.
Reacting to the arrest today, Acting Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore of Essex Police said:
This is a fast-moving investigation which has already involved a number of police forces and law enforcement agencies from across the UK and Europe.
I am very grateful to officers from the PSNI for their assistance this morning.
Essex police yesterday confirmed that the man found dead in the container last Saturday was 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor from Afghanistan.
Staff at Tilbury Docks, east of London, discovered 34 surviving Afghan Sikh men, women and children in an airtight shipping container after they heard banging and screaming.
Upon opening it, they also found the body of the deceased.
The group had travelled from the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
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