999 call made about suspicious lorry two weeks before 39 deaths, court told

Gheorghe Nica, left, and Eamonn Harrison, second right, are two of four men on trial at the Old Bailey (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

A member of the public dialled 999 to report an alleged people-smuggling drop a fortnight before the deaths of 39 migrants in Essex, a court in the UK has heard.

Gheorghe Nica and Eamonn Harrison are accused of the manslaughter of the group of Vietnamese people who suffocated in a trailer transported from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in Essex on October 23 last year.