REUTERS A gang who let 71 migrants suffocate to death have been charged with murder

FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Harrowing images shocked the world last August when a truck left by the side of the road was found to contain the bodies of dozens of migrants, including three children and a baby. The alarm was raised when police, who turned up to tow the suspected broken down vehicle, spotted the remains of the decomposing bodies oozing from the meat distribution truck. Helmut Marban, spokesman for the Austrian police, said police who arrived at the scene "saw blood dripping" from the vehicle and "noticed the smell of dead bodies". To their horror when they opened the back they found the sea of bodies, and after initial estimates put the death toll at around 50 it eventually stood at 71. All of the victims were from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Enquiries identified an international organised crime gang involved in smuggling operation of migrants across the continent. Police arrested 11 ringleaders, mostly Bulgarian and Afghan nationals, and charged them with murder and aggravated migrant smuggling.

An Afghan is thought to be the ringleader, and some are said to have made full confessions while other deny the charges. The investigation into the gang, helped by Europol, identified money laundering operations and smuggling rackets in Austria, Bulgaria and Germany. The majority of cash from their illicit operations was funnelled into Afghanistan through a network of underground bankers, where it was invested into real estate.

REUTERS The victims are thought to have boarded the vehicle, which had Hungarian license plates, in Serbia

Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre uncovered 24 separate incidents the gang were involved in between June and August 2015. Robert Črepinko, Head of Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre: "This tragic case is another example of how ruthless the criminal gangs can be when only pursuing their financial interests. “We are confronted with multinational criminal networks that smuggle human beings and carelessly disregard the dangers they are exposing them to. Money is all that matters to them."

Migrants go to extreme lengths to cross borders Fri, October 7, 2016 Desperate migrants fleeing Syria and surrounding places have been trying to sneak across borders in incredible ways. These include hiding in suitcases and sleeping next to car bonnets Play slideshow 1 of 40

The 7.5 tonne refrigerated truck set off from the Hungarian-Serbian border on August 26, heading for the Hungarian-Austrian border along the A4 motorway. The victims are thought to have boarded the vehicle, which had Hungarian license plates, in Serbia. The truck, which used to belong to Slovak chicken meat company Hyza, part of the Agrofert Holding owned by Czech finance minister Andrej Babis, was sold by the company in 2014 and the new owners did not remove the logo.

KRONE Police who arrived at the scene "saw blood dripping" from the vehicle

The doors to the air tight truck were secured shut with wires, and the refrigeration system had not been turned on, nor had any ventilation been provided. The smugglers, for fear of being noticed by the authorities, forbid the migrants from opening the doors. They slowly died of asphyxiation, and it is thought they were dead by the time the truck entered Austria.

Their bodies were left undiscovered in the back for a number of days owing to their states of decomposition. Among the dead were eight women and four children, including a girl aged between one and two-years-old and three boys aged eight to ten. Austrian Interior Minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, said at the time: “This tragedy affects us all deeply.

REUTERS All of the victims were from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan

Money is all that matters to them Robert Črepinko

“Human traffickers are criminals. Anyone still thinking that they're kind helpers cannot be helped.” Hans Peter Doskozil, chief of police in Burgenland province, said at the time the owner of the truck was a Bulgarian of Lebanese descent, while two others took turns driving. Shortly after the discovery Europol quickly identified four suspects, and Austrian authorities issued European arrest warrants.

The suspects’ other roles in the organisation as to recruit drivers from Bulgaria and purchase transportation from Hungary. Others gathered migrants in Serbia and organised transport from Hungary to Germany on a daily basis. The gang, who would have smuggled 30 to 100 migrants per trip, used several vehicles and a vast number of drivers who worked in shifts.