A MAN wanted on suspicion of smuggling Vietnamese migrants who were found dead in a lorry was arrested in Redditch.

Mr Tai, who also goes by the name Hung Sy Truong, is wanted by Belgian prosecutors who allege he was a member of a criminal network involved in large scale people smuggling.

He was apprehended on the evening of Tuesday 15 December 2020 at a Redditch address on a European Arrest Warrant issued by a Belgian investigating judge.

He is suspected of having been involved in transporting at least ten of the 39 found dead in Essex, moving them from a safe house in Anderlecht, Brussels, in taxis to a location near the French/Belgian border before they were put onto the lorry.

After hearing the migrants had died, it is alleged the man fled Belgium and initially went to Germany before moving to the UK.

He is now subject to extradition proceedings and has been remanded in custody until a hearing due on 12 March 2021.

Details of the arrest were released following the conclusion of a trial at the Old Bailey which saw four people found guilty of their involvement in a people smuggling ring which led to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children in October 2019.