BRUSSELS – Belgian police have arrested 29 suspected illegal immigrants in a swoop on a motorway service station, it was reported on Wednesday.

The police made the arrests in the early hours of Tuesday morning after raiding the Bertem parking lot on the E40 between Liege and Louvain, La Derniere Heure said.

Police say they believe the alleged illegals – most of whom were from Asian countries – were trying to reach the United Kingdom.

Officers told La Derniere Heure that they targeted the service station because they had been tipped off that vehicles transporting illegal immigrants stopped there regularly.

After the raid, the police said they had discovered that many of the people arrested had been sheltering in a safe house in the city of Liege.

A Belgian man was also arrested in the operation, under suspicion of helping to organise a people smuggling ring.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news