Northern Irish man challenges extradition over UK truck deaths
DUBLIN: One of the two Northern Irish men charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last month challenged attempts to extradite him to Britain in an Irish court on Thursday (Nov 21).
Britain began extradition proceedings on Nov 1, a week after the discovery of the bodies in an industrial estate. Eamonn Harrison, 22, was charged with human trafficking and immigration offences, as well as 39 offences of manslaughter.
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The UK authorities, citing signed documentation and CCTV footage, allege that Harrison delivered the trailer in which the people were found to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain, Ronan Kennedy, a lawyer for the Irish state said.
READ: UK truck victim families take on loans to repatriate remains to Vietnam
READ: Who are the Vietnamese feared dead in UK truck tragedy?
Harrison's lawyer, Siobhan Stack, raised a number of issues with the extradition warrant, in particular the "sparseness of the facts" contained within it that she said gave no information as to where the deaths occurred and what Harrison's involvement was.
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Judge Donald Binchy said the matters raised definitely required additional information from British prosecutors before a hearing date that he set for Dec 12.
The man who drove the lorry to the industrial estate, also from Northern Ireland, was charged last month with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, and money laundering. He is due to enter a plea next week.
Two other Northern Irish men are also wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking, while eight people were also arrested earlier this month by Vietnamese police, bringing the total number of arrests there to 10.
The bodies were found in the early hours of Oct 23 after the container arrived from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The container was picked up at Purfleet dock, east of London and a British court heard this month that a global ring was involved.
