Briton freed over Dover deaths

Most of the illegal immigrants suffocated in the lorry

Police in the Netherlands have released a British man arrested in connection with the deaths of 58 Chinese people who had been trying to get into UK illegally.

The immigrants suffocated inside a refrigerated lorry during a journey from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Their bodies were found at Dover in June.

The bodies were discovered at Dover by customs officials

The British man, who lives near Rotterdam, was arrested on Monday. He is the 10th person to be arrested in the Netherlands since the tragedy.

He was questioned about connections between criminal gangs smuggling illegal immigrants from the Netherlands into the UK.

His lawyer says his client's name and other details must have been used without his knowledge in some international transactions he had nothing to do with.

The driver of the lorry, who was from Holland, remains in custody in the UK on manslaughter and smuggling charges.

A Chinese man and woman have also been charged in connection with the alleged smuggling plot and remain in custody in the UK.

Smuggling network

The Dutch police believe the immigrant smuggling network is being run by Turkish, British and Chinese operators, who are mainly active in the Netherlands.

Relatives of some of the dead travelled to Britain earlier this month to make the first formal identifications of the bodies.

A total of 54 men and four women died in the lorry. Two people survived the journey.

Most of the dead are believed to have come from the Fujian province of China, where many young Chinese people begin their illegal journeys to the West.

A team of four Kent police officers and two forensic scientists are preparing to visit China to try to match DNA samples from the dead with those of possible relatives there.