Expatica news

90 arrested in human smuggling raids

25 November 2005

BRUSSELS — Police arrested on Friday some 90 people in Brussels in a large scale operation against human smuggling.

Almost a third of those arrested are accused of smuggling illegal immigrants into Belgium from Pakistan and India.
 
The illegal immigrants were then transported onto Britain, Flemish broadcaster VRT reported.

The suspects are accused of loading the illegal immigrants onto trucks along the E40 Brussels-Oostende motorway for the journey to Britain.

The Dendermonde public prosecutor had kept the gang under surveillance for some time before the raids took place on Friday morning.

Some 26 homes were raided in the greater Brussels area.

Of the 90 people arrested, 66 were staying illegally in Belgium. The other 24 people were accused of membership of a criminal gang.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Belgian news