Police arrest 30 illegal immigrants hiding in a van with life jackets in Oostduinkerke (Koksijde)

Last night, the West Coast police arrested a group of 30 illegal immigrants who were hiding in a van near the dunes of Oostduinkerke. The group was there with life jackets ready to make the crossing to the United Kingdom. Recently, noticeably more transmigrants have been spotted again. Two weeks ago, a boat carrying dozens of people was intercepted in the North Sea.

It was an alert team from the West Coast police zone that made the discovery last night. A group of 30 transmigrants were hidden in a van near the dunes of Oostduinkerke. They were wearing life jackets and were probably waiting for a signal until they could step towards the sea and climb into a boat. This is how they wanted to cross to the United Kingdom. However, the police were ahead of them and had already noticed their presence on the beach. “It involved a group of about thirty transmigrants,” says the West Coast police. “They were mainly of Vietnamese descent and wanted to cross to the United Kingdom. Two people were arrested. Assistance was provided by the police zones of Bruges, Bredene-De Haan and Kouter for the administrative handling of the file.” The public prosecutor’s office of the West Flanders Veurne department has started an investigation. (Read more below the photo)

Boat on the North Sea

Recently there has been an increased presence of transmigrants in the coastal region and border region with France. This could be due to the fact that the French authorities are clearing several camps in view of the Olympic Games. The police in the coastal region have had to intervene several times in recent weeks. On April 14, a large group of illegal immigrants was spotted in a rubber boat on the North Sea. When the police arrived they were already several miles deep in the sea. They refused to stop even though the conditions were life-threatening: many were not wearing life jackets and dozens of them were sitting on the edge of the dinghy. They were eventually escorted into international waters where the British Coast Guard took them over. There appeared to be no fewer than seventy people on board.