Irish court approves extradition of 2 men charged with manslaughter in deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in London truck
- British authorities have been seeking extradition of the two men, believed to have been part of the brutal scheme
- Police in Vietnam also arrested 10 people last year in connection with the deaths
An Irish court on Friday approved the extradition of one of the two Northern Irish men charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last year.
British authorities are seeking Eamonn Harrison, 23, on charges of human trafficking and immigration offences, as well as the 39 offences of manslaughter in a case that has shone a light on the illicit human smuggling trade.
Judge Donald Binchy deferred ordering Harrison’s handover to Britain until February 4. Binchy said the lengthy judgment would not be available until early next week and granted a request from Harrison’s lawyer for more time to consider it.
The discovery of the bodies in the back of a refrigerated truck after being smuggled into Britain highlighted how poor citizens of Asia, Africa and the Middle East pay large sums of cash to middlemen for perilous, illicit journeys to the West.
The UK authorities, citing mobile phone analysis, cell tower data and closed-circuit television footage, allege that Harrison delivered the trailer in which the people were found to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain, a lawyer for the Irish state said last month.