Big rise in illegal immigrants caught heading for Britain from Belgium
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:09PM BST 21/07/2008

The number of illegal immigrants caught attempting to enter Britain from the Belgian port of Ostend has increased fourfold in the past year.
Belgium's maritime police have intercepted almost 300 people seeking to stowaway on ferries travelling from Ostend to Ramsgate in the first six months of this year, a 400 per cent increase on the same period last year.

British police have also discovered another 130 illegal immigrants who have travelled from the West-Flemish port so far this year, a catch that is also four times the UK's 2007 figure.

Dirk Calemyn, the head of the Belgian police's maritime unit, blamed other members of the European Union's open borders "Schengen" system for a "bigger influx" of illegal immigrants.

Article continuesadvertisement
"A hard stance against refugees in neighbouring countries has been softened," he said.

Mr Calemyn believes that Ostend's location as a continental road and rail hub for travel and freight is attracting illegal immigrants.

"Ostend is the perfect place for refugees to try and reach Britain," he said.

"Illegal immigrants can easily make it to Ostend, where they try to get on board a lorry or a ship."

Police, both British and Belgian, use heart beat monitors, carbon dioxide detectors, tracker dogs and mobile truck scanners to pick up stowaways.

The Belgian police have also in recent days raided a number of Ostend parks and woods and arrested "quite a number of refugees" who were disturbing local residents.

"The raids have possibly caused a peak in the statistics," said Mr Calemyn.
http://tinyurl.com/5wynnm