Migrants’ new route to UK – via Germany

ILLEGAL immigrants have opened up a new route into Britain by stowing away on ships in northern Germany, it has been revealed.

Scores of young men have been caught trying to smuggle themselves on to UK-bound ferries and freighters in the port town of Cuxhaven, near Hamburg.

On Monday, three Albanians who had reached Immingham on Humberside were captured by border guards and placed on the next ferry back across the North Sea.

The influx comes amid warning that the east coast of England was vulnerable to illegal immigration because of multi-million-pound cuts to the UK Border Force. And it follows German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let in more than a million migrants last year.

Instead of claiming asylum and settling in Germany, increasing numbers are using it as a stepping stone to the UK. The German government admits it has lost track of 130,000 of them. Others are heading north following a security crack- down in Calais, where people smugglers have targeted thousands living in makeshift camps.

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘Focusing on the main problem areas such as Calais leaves the smaller ports without adequate protection against illegal migration. This latest information is a serious worry. EU partners like Germany must do much more to stop the flow.

‘Encouraging people to come to Germany and then not processing them there shows an absence of planning and a lack of care.’

Border staff in Cuxhaven have been monitoring the worsening situation since late last year.

Police spokesman Holger Jureczko said young men, mostly from Albania and Kosovo, have repeatedly tried to scale the fence at the port and clamber aboard lorries bound for the UK. Police there have recorded 32 recent incidents involving 62 migrants.

Cuxhaven runs cargo ships to Immingham and ferry services to Harwich in Essex.

Home Secretary Theresa May is understood to have held discussions with the authorities in Belgium, Holland and Germany about the problem.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We work with a range of domestic, European and international partners to develop a detailed picture of the routes being used by migrants attempting to enter the UK illegally. Where a credible threat is identified, we will take joint action.’