French blitz on immigrants
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• by Melanie Hammond French authorities are stepping up the hunt for the ringleaders responsible for trafficking illegal immigrants into Britain in trucks.
A Home Office spokeswoman says that French Border Protection Police (Police aux Frontieres ) are targeting the "facilitators" who are profiting and claims that "60 have been imprisoned in the past six months" with more arrests expected as a result of last week's clampdown.
The action comes as more and more drivers are experiencing problems with immigrants breaking into trailers.
A driver from a large Durham-based haulage company recently discovered two unaccompanied babies in the back of his truck. According to the firm's development manager, the driver was nearing Calais when he heard some noise coming from the back of the truck: "He found several people in the trailer and there was a lot of commotion as he made them get out. People were shouting and crying but the driver couldn't understand what they were saying because of the language barrier"
The driver continued his journey but when he stopped to refuel just outside Calais, he heard crying. The two babies were found tucked away at the back of the trailer. The driver notified French police immediately and the babies were reunited with their mothers.
In another recent incident, a driver parked at Calais port watched as another driver struggled to remove a group of immigrants from his trailer. He saw one of the men rush to a nearby phonebox and "within 10 minutes. two men arrived". The men proceeded to approach drivers with offers of £1,000 a head for smuggling the immigrants into Britain.