Police said on Thursday that the 39 people found dead in a truck trailer in Essex were Chinese nationals, as they stepped up one of the UK’s biggest mass-murder investigations.
Raids were carried out overnight at three properties in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, in connection with the probe, Essex police confirmed, as they were given a further 24 hours to question the driver of the lorry. The 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The Chinese embassy in London is working with the police to establish the identity of the bodies of the 31 men and eight women. “The staff of the Chinese embassy in the UK are driving to the scene to verify the situation,” China’s foreign ministry posted in a message on Weibo, the instant messaging service,