LONDON — Two more men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter after 39 people were found dead in a refrigerated trailer in southeastern England, the British police said on Friday, the first indication from officials that the deaths were linked to human smuggling. The arrests were announced as officials from at least five countries in two continents tried to piece together the movements of the people in the truck, and China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said it could not confirm that the dead had all been Chinese citizens, as the British police had suggested. The Essex Police said in a statement Friday that they had made two additional arrests in the case, holding a 38-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman from Warrington in northern England. The names were not released. On Friday evening, another arrest was announced — that of a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland who was taken into custody at Stansted Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and suspicion of manslaughter.

Source: New York Times October 25, 2019 18:56 UTC