trafficking probe | 

Romanian truck driver arrested over discovery of 14 people in Rosslare container

The Romanian national is suspected of being the driver of the truck that brought the migrants into the country on Monday of last week

Today at 12:07

A truck driver has been arrested in relation to the human trafficking investigation into the discovery of 14 people hidden in a refrigerated trailer at Rosslare Europort last week.

The Romanian national is suspected of being the driver of the truck that brought the migrants into the country on Monday of last week.

Senior sources said gardaí believe the suspect, aged in his 30s, has “many questions to answer” and is considered a person of “very significant interest” in the case.

The international investigation has been hampered by the fact that most of the migrants left Irish state care last week and were not interviewed by gardaí as part of their trafficking probe.

It is understood that most of the migrants have now left our jurisdiction.

“The individual in custody was identified as a person of interest in the case and he obviously had no clue he was on the garda radar,” a source said last night.

“So when he arrived back in Rosslare yesterday driving a vehicle that had arrived from continental Europe he was arrested on sight.”

The trucker is being detained at Wexford garda station.

Nine men, three women and two young girls were found on January 8, when the vehicle was stopped and searched after arriving from Belgium.

It’s understood that only the children remain in Ireland.

The Irish Independent previously revealed that the migrants didn’t realise they were being brought to Ireland.

Yesterday, a garda spokesman confirmed the suspect is being detained at Wexford Garda Station where officers are establishing to determine his knowledge of the criminal enterprise.

“A man in his 30s has been arrested by Gardaí in connection with the discovery of 14 individuals concealed in a shipping container at Rosslare Europort on Monday, 8th January 2024,” a garda spokesman said.

“He was arrested this afternoon, Wednesday, 17th January, at Rosslare for an alleged offence under the Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Act, 2021, and is currently detained at a Garda Station in the southeast of the country under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984,” he added.

By way of background into how they are handling this case gardai said: “The evidence discovered in this case will ultimately determine whether this incident is a case of Human Trafficking or People Smuggling, which, while both involve the illegal transportation of humans, the transportation is for a different purpose.

“People smuggling involves illegal immigrants making an illegal entry into Ireland. Illegal immigrants want to enter a destination country and often pay someone to facilitate their illegal entry.

“Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation and ultimately the exploitation of a victim, which can be for a number of reasons including labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, forced Criminality or exploitation consisting of the removal of one or more of the organs of a person.”

Nine men, three women and two young girls were found at around 3am on 8 January, when the vehicle was stopped and searched after arriving on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

They were given medical checks and brought to a reception centre in Dublin for processing.

It is understood that only the children remain in Ireland.