£6k fee to be smuggled on top of lorry engines

PEOPLE traffickers are charging migrants more than £6,000 a time to sneak into Britain on top of the engines of cars and lorries.

Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said this is ‘potentially life-endangering’ as it warned migrant smuggling is now a major business for criminals across Europe.

It revealed traffickers are charging asylum seekers as much as £6,200 each to be crammed into the space between a vehicle’s engine and bonnet in the hope of evading border guards. Other dangerous methods used include packing migrants into overcrowded lorries and vans with insufficient air to breathe or concealing them in ‘airtight containers’.

The Europol report highlights the lifethreatening measures refugees are taking to start a new life as the migrant crisis continues to engulf Europe.

‘One of the most recently detected transportation methods is to conceal migrants in engine compartments while crossing the borders,’ it said. ‘Before approaching the border crossing points the migrants are placed in the engine compartment of the vehicle used for their transportation. The migrants are hidden on top of the vehicle’s engine, taking advantage of the space available between the engine and the bonnet.

‘The method is extremely dangerous and the lives of migrants crossing the border in this manner may be at risk.’

It added: ‘The migrants travel together with the smuggler for the majority of the journey and are only concealed in this way during the border crossings.

‘These developments demonstrate that migrant smuggling remains a highly attractive business among criminals.’

Rob Wainwright, the British executive director of Europol, said: ‘Migrant smuggling has become a big and dangerous business in Europe.

‘In the face of increased pressure from law enforcement authorities, criminal groups are resorting to desperate methods to smuggle victims across borders, often with life-threatening consequences.’