A third man has been charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a refrigerated lorry container in Essex.
Gheorghe Nica, of Langdon Hills in Essex, was arrested at Frankfurt Airport in Germany on Wednesday, January 29, by German authorities and the National Crime Agency and appeared before magistrates in Chelmsford on Saturday, Essex police said.
The 43-year-old was subject to a European Arrest Warrant and he has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
He will next appear at the Old Bailey on March 16.
The bodies of 39 people were found in a lorry in Grays in Essex on October 23 and police said post-mortem examinations had given provisional causes of death of overheating and suffocation.
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson was charged last year with 39 counts of manslaughter.
Police said a 22-year-old man was also arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration. He remains in custody in Essex, the force added.
A fourth man, 23-year-old Eamonn Harrison, is due before Dublin's High Court on Wednesday as part of efforts to extradite him from the Republic of Ireland.
Harrison, from Mayobridge in Northern Ireland, faces 39 counts of manslaughter and charges of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and conspiracy to traffic people.
A police spokesman said: "Our teams are continuing to progress hundreds of lines of enquiry and are working with the National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies from across the globe to further their lengthy and complex investigation.
"All post-mortem examinations have now been completed and we await the final reports for all 39 victims. The provisional cause of death for those in the lorry was a combination of hypoxia and hyperthermia (overheating) in an enclosed space."
The spokesman also appealed for information about two similar haulage vehicle journeys made into Purfleet on Friday, October 11 and Friday, October 18, that police believe were also connected to people trafficking.
"We believe that these people, or anyone who had knowledge of the journeys, has crucial information to assist our inquiry," he said.
Anyone with information can call Rayleigh's major crime team on 101 or submit information, including videos and photos, at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/4201020119P15-PO1.
