Migrants quit Calais to build camp in Spain
MIGRANTS have set up a new Calais-style Jungle camp in Spain in a bid to get into Britain.
Tents have been pitched in Bilbao with refugees plotting to board ferries or hide in Brit holidaymakers’ caravans.
Security chiefs fear it could turn into a migrant and refugee camp similar to the one in Calais, France.
Extra police have been drafted in to patrol the border in northern Spain to stop migrants getting on boats to Portsmouth and Poole in Dorset. Police have stopped around 1,800 people attempting to stow away to Britain this year – five times more than last year. Brittany Ferries’ vessels sail three times a week to Portsmouth, carrying mostly British holidaymakers.
Previously, those from countries including Syria tried to enter Britain on boats from Calais to Folkestone.
Migrants also include those fleeing war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Every day Spanish border cops are stopping those who attempt to sneak onto passenger ferries or into freight containers.
Twenty-seven migrants were caught in one day trying to board ferries from Bilbao to Portsmouth, while a Romanian couple attempted to smuggle eight people with a shipment of bananas in a rented lorry.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Border Force is focused on delivering the right level of security.”