pier immigrant backgrounder
Exactly 50 years ago visitors on Southend Pier were enjoying the sea air and kicking back on deckchairs tucking into ice creams, oblivious to the fact that just a few miles out in the estuary, detectives were about to smash a global immigrant smuggling racket.
In a dramatic swoop off Southend, just east of the pier, police in a special launcher caught up with a 500 tonne Dutch ship, the Noorderhaven, which they suspected of harbouring illegal immigrants.
They managed to get the ship to a nearby jetty and when they got inside they found a group of Indian men, huddled together in a tiny, pitch-black chain locker.