Police smash people-smuggling ring 'linked to Essex lorry deaths'

French and Belgian officers arrest 26 people involved with network running from Vietnam to Europe

French and Belgian police believe they have smashed an international people-smuggling network involved in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found in a refrigerated trailer in the UK last October.

Officers have arrested 26 people in coordinated raids in several locations in the two countries after keeping the gang under surveillance for several months.