200 a week smuggled in by lorry
SOME 200 migrants a week are being smuggled into Britain on lorries from the Calais area after a surge in stowaway attempts, the French authorities have estimated.
The total – which would equate to more than 10,000 a year if repeated every week – prompted fresh calls for beefedup security at Calais, the dismantling of the Jungle migrant camp and stronger action against illegal immigration.
There are concerns too that armed people-traffickers are making lorries stop before they reach the French port, sometimes blocking roads with felled trees, so migrants can break into vehicles. The main route has been dubbed a no-go area after midnight.
The numbers found hiding in lorries and cars arriving in Britain from the Continent more than doubled to 6,400 last year.
The increase in so-called lorry drops follows tighter security being put in place to guard the Channel Tunnel last year after a wave of incursions caused chaos and delays.
A French security official said lorries heading for the tunnel or ferries were packed with “dozens” of migrants.
Many were intercepted before they got to England. “But we are certain that a few get through. The estimate is around 200 a week,” he added.
Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover and Deal, said: “The huge number of migrants reaching Britain through Calais shows the people traffickers are winning the war. They are putting lorry drivers’ lives at risk, using increasingly dangerous methods to stop trucks so migrants can get on board. The situation is shocking.
“We need to work with the French to catch and jail the people traffickers and stop their evil trade of modern slavery.
“And we must dismantle the Jungle camp and create a new Dover Patrol to guard the English Channel. We must restore order at the border.”
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “We need more use of heat sensors to detect illegal migrants in commercial vehicles.”
Security
The Home Office said: “We do not recognise the figure quoted. Border Force and partner authorities did, however, stop 84,088 attempts to reach the UK illegally at the juxtaposed controls in France last year alone.
“The British and French governments have invested tens of millions of pounds to bolster security at the ports in northern France. This includes the recent installation of state-of-the-art motion detection technology, which is proving highly effective in detecting concealed migrants.”