Northern Ireland trucker Mo Robinson was accused of being part of “a global ring” when he appeared in court over the alleged manslaughter of 39 migrants who were found dead in a trailer in Essex.

At the brief court appearance in Chelmsford Magistrates Court, prosecutor Ogheneruona Iguyovwe described the conspiracy charges as “a global ring” involving “the movement of a large number of illegal immigrants into the UK”.

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Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, from Laurelvale, outside Portadown, Co Armagh, appeared via video link charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

He was dressed in a grey prison tracksuit and spoke only to give his name, his address and his nationality as British.

He was not asked to indicate a plea and will next appear at the Old Bailey on November 25 for a plea and trial preparation hearing. His solicitor Julian Hayes made no application for bail.

District Judge Timothy King remanded him into custody, saying: “You have heard the nature of the allegations you face and the majority of these can only be dealt with in the crown court.

“I therefore allocate all matters to the Central Criminal Court on November 25 and you will be required to enter your pleas on that occasion.”

The 25-year-old was arrested in the early hours of October 16 after police found the bodies of eight women and 31 men in a refrigerated trailer of a lorry on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex.

In total five people have been arrested in connection with the investigation, the largest of its kind undertaken by Essex Police.

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British police initially said the 39 dead were thought to have been Chinese but it later emerged that many were from Vietnam, where communities have been plunged into despair in the belief their missing loved ones are dead.

Police have said very few of the victims were carrying official identification and that they hope to identify the dead through fingerprints, dental records and DNA, as well as photographs from friends and relatives.

The Vietnamese government said Britain had sent dossiers regarding four of the people found in the truck, seeking help in identifying them.

Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son told reporters: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is developing dossiers of possible victims, but until now there have been no grounds to confirm Vietnamese nationals are among the victims.”

The suspected victims hail from Vietnam’s northern rice-growing areas of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, two of the communist-ruled nation’s poorest provinces.

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One 19-year-old, Bui Thi Nhung, is believed by her family to be one of the 39 people found dead.

Nhung’s family said she first left Nghe An on her journey overseas in August. She went to China first, before eventually making her way to Germany, then Belgium, where they believe she boarded the ill-fated truck.

About 70 percent of Vietnamese trafficking cases in Britain between 2009 and 2016 were for labour exploitation, including cannabis production and work in nail salons, the British government said last year.

Nghe An was identified as home to many victims of human trafficking who end up in Europe, according to a March report by the Pacific Links Foundation, a U.S.-based anti-trafficking organisation.

The other province, Ha Tinh, was ravaged by one of Vietnam’s worst environmental disasters in 2016 when a steel mill owned by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics contaminated coastal waters, devastating fishing and tourism there.

Meanwhile, extra UK immigration enforcement officers are to be deployed at a Belgian port following the Essex lorry tragedy, according to the British Home Secretary.

Priti Patel told MPs she has spoken with her Belgian counterpart and confirmed the British presence in Zeebrugge will be bolstered.

She added the nationalities of the 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container in Essex are “not confirmed at this stage” and advised the investigation will be “long and meticulous”.

Ms Patel vowed to adopt a “ruthless” response in dealing with organised criminals behind illegal migration while Border Force is “increasing their presence” in Purfleet.

She also said the BritishHome Office is “accelerating” its joint intelligence-led operation with the police and others to try to “disrupt and deter” organised crime gangs using refrigerated and hard-sided lorries to “smuggle clandestine migrants”.

Making a statement to the Commons, Ms Patel said work is under way to co-ordinate an international response to the “appalling” incident.

She said: “It will… involve working with partners overseas, with foreign law enforcement agencies, and unravelling the threat of criminality that could stretch halfway across the world.

“We’re already working with a range of operational partners to piece together information. Essex Police need to be given the time and the space to do just that, while respecting the dignity of those who have died and the privacy of their families.

“The process of identifying the victims is continuing and I’d like to stress that their nationalities are not confirmed at this stage.”

She later confirmed she has received agreement from the Belgian authorities to “deploy extra UK immigration enforcement officers to Zeebrugge”.

Ms Patel said the “tragic events” in Essex last week show “there is much, much more to do” before condemning “organised criminals” driving illegal migration, adding: “We must be ruthless in our response.”

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