Three held over UK truck deaths freed on police bail

British Police forensics officers work on a lorry, found to be containing 39 dead bodies, at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, on October 23, 2019. – Britain launched a major murder investigation after 39 bodies were found Wednesday in a truck from Bulgaria, as police tried to establish where the victims were originally from. All the victims were pronounced dead at the scene in an industrial park in Grays, east of London, triggering revulsion among politicians and once again putting the spotlight on the shadowy people trafficking business. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

LONDON, United States (AFP) — Three suspects arrested in Britain over the deaths of 39 people found in a refrigerated truck have been released on bail, police said Sunday.

They are a man and woman, both 38, from Warrington in northwest England, and a 46-year-old Northern Irish man who had been held at London’s Stansted Airport.

They were arrested two days after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were discovered Wednesday in a truck in an industrial zone in Grays in Essex, southeast England.

Police initially said the victims — believed to have arrived on a ferry from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge — were Chinese, but later retracted this and now many are feared to be Vietnamese.

The three suspects were questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.

Police have charged the driver of the truck, Maurice Robinson, with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.

The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland, who also faces charges of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering, will appear in court on Monday.

Another Northern Irish man was also arrested in Dublin on Saturday.