Police in China have arrested the head of a "snakehead" gang suspected of organising the smuggling operation which left 58 illegal immigrants dead in the back of a lorry at the English port of Dover.
Mr Chen Xiaokong was caught in a disco in Liangkiang County in Fujian Province four days ago, according to the Xinhua News Service.
Customs officers discovered the 58 bodies in a sealed lorry container at Dover's Eastern Docks on June 19th last year.
An inquest heard they suffocated during a ferry crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Dover, after a lorry air vent was closed. Only two men survived.
The Dutch lorry driver, 32-year-old Mr Perry Wacker from Rotterdam, has been charged with manslaughter and smuggling offences.
A Chinese man and woman are also charged with plotting to smuggle the immigrants into this country.
Mr Chef You Yi (38) and 29-year-old female interpreter Ms Ying You, of Rivenhall Gardens, South Woodford, Essex, are jointly charged with conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the UK.
PA