HOME OFFICE 383/97 30 December l997
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ALERT OVER NEW YEAR, SAYS MIKE O'BRIEN
A series of attempts to breach immigration controls over the Christmas period have been frustrated. three lorry loads of immigrants, totalling 62 people have been stopped. Immigration Officials have been put on alert for further attempts over the New Year.
Home Office Immigration Minister Mike O'Brien said today:
"I am concerned by what appears to be concerted attempts to breach this country's immigration controls being orchestrated over Christmas by crime bosses abroad. Their actions are putting the lives of desperate people at risk.
"In the past week, three organised groups of illegal immigrants have been found -
At Lenham Trailer Park near Maidstone, Kent, on 23 December 24 people were seen climbing out of a lorry and were arrested.
At a service station on the M40 in Warwickshire, 23 people including a six year-old child were arrested after having been seen leaving a lorry.
At Dover on 29 December 16 men were found by HM Customs and Excise officers when they opened a refrigerated lorry fully loaded with frozen chips.
"Clearly crime barons were hoping that the Christmas and New Year period would catch us napping and they would be able to sneak people in. They were mistaken. These three groups were stopped and officials are on the alert for more attempts over the New Year.
"These crime barons are exploiting these people to the point that their lives are being jeopardised. These unscrupulous operators demand a high price - often a lifetime's savings - without a thought for the safety of those in whom they traffic.
"Many lorry drivers become the unwitting dupes of these evil facilitators and are shocked to find at a late stage in their journey that their vehicle has been tampered with. Of course, then it is too late and they face the inconvenience of investigation.
"More than this, many illegal immigrants are unaware on the cargo on which they ride into the UK. Drivers of hazardous loads should take special care to ensure that stowaways are not aboard whenever their vehicle has been left unattended. To ignore the problem is to endanger the lives of those who may be foolhardy or simply unaware of the risks they are running."
