The Minister of the Interior and Security, Pieter De Crem (CD&V), has instructed the federal police to increase the number of controls on human trafficking, writes Thursday Het Laatste Nieuws.
By the end of the year, control actions must be organised every week in each province, according to reports.
The decision follows the news of 39 Vietnamese nationals found dead in a refrigerated truck trailer in Britain last month. They had passed through Zeebrugge.
"Thanks to the good cooperation between all the services involved, we have dismantled many criminal gangs," explains Erik Eenaerts, the Minister's spokesman. "The police are doing well, but the fight against transmigration and trafficking in human beings remains necessary and will therefore be intensified." "The ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent, among others, as well as motorway areas, are still attractions."
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In mid-November, eight people of Iraqi nationality were pulled from a cooling container in the port of Zeebrugge in the West Flanders province.
They were found in the transport zone of the port. “The cooling of the transport had already started, and was supposed to make sure the cargo was permanently kept at a temperature between 0 and 6 degrees,” Frank Demeester, the public prosecutor said, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.
According to police sources, De Crem has called for a coordinated control action every week in each province.
The Minister's office did not wish to comment on this information.
Jules Johnston
The Brussels Times
