ESSEX Police has played down reports and comments on social media about a number of arrests that have been made in Europe relating to a human trafficking chain.

Twenty-six people have been arrested in Belgium and France in an operation prompted by the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found in a lorry in West Thurrock last year.

Essex Police were the lead investigators following that incident and have charged a number of people including the driver of the container lorry, Maurice Robinson, who pleaded guilty last month to 39 counts of manslaughter.

A man from Tilbury has also been charged.

However, following a number of inaccurate media reports and comment on social media, the force has stressed it is not involved with the latest arrests. A force spokesperson said: "We would like to reiterate that, although the Joint Investigation Team was founded in the wake of the tragedy in Grays on 23 October 2019, these latest arrests are not linked to our ongoing investigation."

In northern Europe 13 people, including Moroccans and Vietnamese, were held in Brussels and 13 more in Paris, authorities say. Belgian prosecutors said the suspects had probably "transported up to several dozen people every day for several months".

The EU's Agency for Criminal Justice Co-operation (Eurojust) said police had carried out cross-border raids in an operation that involved four nations - the UK, France, Belgium and Ireland - along with Europol.

The smuggling network, they said, was suspected of having made the October 2019 trip possible.

A statement from Eurojust says:" The suspects are allegedly part of an Organised Crime Group (OCG) that smuggles refugees from Asia, particularly from Vietnam, and that likely has transported up to several dozen people every day for several months.

"Prompted by the discovery of 39 deceased Vietnamese nationals inside a refrigerated trailer in Essex in the United Kingdom in October 2019, a joint investigation team (JIT) was created between Belgium, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, Eurojust and Europol.

!Judicial and police authorities have since worked closely together within the JIT to map out the alleged activity of the OCG and to determine the possibility of finding cross-links to ongoing regional and local investigations of migrant smuggling activity."