 | | | | | |  | | | Lorries are searched daily for stowaways | |
| | |  | | | "Snakehead is a generic term used to describe those who lead economic migrants out of China. It is not necessarily organised crime. The organised part is arranging the false passports."
He told how family members and others who have already travelled the route and have the contacts, set up travel agencies or some other shop front and organise the journey.
He added that people will travel whatever the price, whatever the risk, and the only way to stamp it out is to take a more liberal attitude to allowing such workers into Europe or America.
"They will not stop leaving China. They have been leaving for 100 years. This tragedy did not discourage them, but it will make them more cautious in checking out which syndicate they use," he said.
"By the time this incident took place many thousands were already in Italy, Hungary, and Eastern Europe - waiting to come to the UK or the United States."
But what about the families of the 58 who died? The police have a video following their investigation into the deaths. The scenes in the lorry are tragic, bodies tumbled about; half dressed, strewn around with boxes of red tomatoes.
There is another clip, taken in China. Families have gathered to identify the dead.
Some are giving blood samples for DNA testing. Others are being shown packs of photographs - the last record of their son or daughter, sister or brother - ghostly photos taken where the bodies were laid out in the Dover port customs shed. Their grief is overwhelming.
For the police it was a successful investigation. The driver of the lorry, Perry Wacker, was arrested on the spot and sent to prison for 14 years for manslaughter.
He claimed he only knew about a consignment of tomatoes. But the same DNA tests which helped the police identify the dead helped convict Wacker. DNA linked him to the warehouse where the Chinese immigrants were held before being loaded on to the container.
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