Human traffickers detained at West Flemish car park
Three people were detained on suspicion of human trafficking at the car park of the motorway service station at Jabbeke in West Flanders on Thursday night. The Bruges section of the West Flemish Judicial Authorities reports that two Syrians and an Iraqi were detained while they tried to hide 15 illegal immigrants in the trailers of lorries that were parked on the car park that is on the motorway between Bruges and the French border.
Car parks along the E40 motorway in West Flanders are often used by human trafficking gangs that smuggle illegal immigrants from the continent into the UK.
On Thursday night the police saw how a group of migrants hid in the bushes while the traffickers pick out the trailers in which they were to be hidden. The Iraqi suspect even threatened a British and Iraqi trucker with a knife.
The group of migrants that had hoped to make it to the UK was made up of 11 Syrians and a family from Iraq. The youngest member of the Iraqi family was just 8 years-old. There were also two minors among the Syrians.
The three suspects will appear before an Examining Magistrate in Bruges on Friday Evening who will decide on whether they are to remain in custody. .