Shaira Fernandez David
A Vietnamese witness at the trial of 39 bodies in a container claimed to have paid $ 17,000 to buy a package "VIP" smuggled into the UK.
Prosecutors accused the witness, known as the X, among those who successfully crossed the border to Britain last October.
The container truck where 39 Vietnamese bodies were found in October 2019 in Essex County, UK Photo: PA
He told the judges that he went to Essex on October 11 with 14 other Vietnamese people who met near Paris, France.
Prosecutors said the two trips were organized by the same group of traffickers.
According to X, there are two types of services smuggling to the UK, one is the truck driver who knows nothing about the passenger container and the other is "VIP", in which "the driver knows you are there."
He said he was transferred from an apartment near Paris to a field 90 minutes away by taxi.
If the driver knocks on one side of the vehicle, they must stand up and stand side by side in the middle of the container, but "make no noise".
When the container door finally opened in the UK, a few European accents helped them out and told them to "move quickly" into the black cars.
Camera images show driver Christopher Kennedy arriving at Purfleet port, Essex County, to receive a car carrying smuggled immigrants on October 11, 2019 Photo: Essex Police/PA.
X said he knew about the crossing to England through a friend.
The court was also informed of a white rickshaw carrying containers, after which 39 migrants were found.
Witness X's fingerprints were found inside the container and driver Maurice Robinson's fingerprints were also identified on a urine bottle, a pack of macaroons and two storage bags.
Driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, from Armagh County, denied participating in the trafficking plot with his accomplices Harrison, 23, and Valentin Calota, 37.
Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Essex County, accused of being the main conductor of human trafficking, admitted the conspiracy but denied 39 manslaughter, like Harrison.
The trial continued.
