BACK DOOR TO BRITAIN How Belgian port is now a key target for people smugglers

THE horrific lorry deaths yesterday exposed a ‘back door’ into Britain.

Officials have repeatedly warned about how human-traffickers are exploiting the route from Zeebrugge.

In May the National Crime Agency said gangs had turned their attention to Belgian ports after security was stepped up in France.

‘Belgium has become a location of greater focus for the activities of organised people smugglers in the past year where smugglers of various nationalities operate,’ the agency’s annual strategic report said.

‘The number of smugglers located there increased after the closure of the migrant camp at Dunkirk in March 2017.

‘The closure of the camps at Calais and Dunkirk has made it more likely that migrants who are still determined to reach the UK will turn to organised crime groups as the options for opportunist illegal migration are reduced.’

In 2016 the annual threat assessment published by the Border Force identified Zeebrugge as a key port of embarkation for clandestine arrivals, along with the Hook of Holland.

That same year the NCA warned that people smugglers were trying to bring migrants into the UK at ‘less busy’ ports including Purfleet in Essex. It was here that the refrigerated container was found yesterday.

Charlie Elphicke, the MP for Dover, has campaigned for improved border controls and tougher action against people smugglers. He said: ‘Everyone knows that security has been greatly stepped up between Calais and Dover.

‘It begs the question as to whether there is sufficient security in other ports like Zeebrugge to detect people being trafficked. It underlines the importance of targeting people traffickers and putting a stop to their evil trade.’

One of Britain’s worst-ever migrant tragedies also involved Zeebrugge.

In June 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found suffocated in a lorry that had crossed from the Belgian port to Dover. The driver, Perry Wacker, 33, from Rotterdam, was jailed for 14 years.

Five years ago 35 people, including 13 children, were discovered locked in a shipping container at Tilbury port, a few miles from Purfleet, as a ship from Zeebrugge was unloaded.

The Afghan Sikhs, all thought to be from the same family, had been locked in the metal container for 18 hours and were said to be just 20 minutes from death. One man, Meet Singh Kapoor, died as his wife and sons, aged nine and 12, slept nearby.

Britain is seen as a highly attractive destination for migrants heading for the West.

Its draws include jobs, the English language, a reputation for fair treatment and many established immigrant communities.

The number of people being smuggled into the UK in containers and lorries has risen in the last year, according to the NCA. It said there had been ‘increasing use of higher risk methods of clandestine entry’ to the UK by organised immigration crime gangs, including using shipping containers and refrigerated HGVs.

The numbers of clandestine migrants found by the Home Office have not been made public, despite repeated requests from MPs.

But in a six-month period in 2015 6,429 illegal migrants detected, compared with 2,411 in the same period the previous year. About 93 per cent of those discovered by the authorities claimed asylum. Those who are not detected often choose to stay under the radar and work in the black economy. Last year a former Home Office chief said Britain was hosting more than a million illegal immigrants and they are unlikely to be removed.

David Wood, director-general of immigration enforcement until 2015, said vast numbers were living in the UK unlawfully. Alp Mehmet, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, said: ‘This is horrific news of a sad and needless loss of life. Peopletrafficking is a sickening business. It continues not only because the traffickers make huge amounts of money from it but are also often able to get away with it.

‘The risk is that more such tragedies will occur for so long as the UK fails to properly resource the border and return those who have no right to be here, which all but encourages traffickers to ply their trade by exploiting people who put their lives in their evil hands.’

‘Sad and needless loss of life’