Already this month, human traffickers attempted at least twice to transport transmigrants from De Panne to the United Kingdom by boat. This is remarkable, as no similar attempts were observed throughout the entire previous year. ‘Human traffickers may be attempting to test us,’ suggests West Flanders Governor Carl Decaluwé.
According to the governor, last year's lower figures show that targeted checks on human trafficking and smuggling are having an impact. This year, the situation already looks somewhat different. On the night of 16 January, a small boat made the crossing from De Panne to the United Kingdom. Two days later, the police were able to stop a similar attempt.
One successful and one failed crossing in barely a month, while no crossings by small boats were detected throughout the whole of last year. That is a striking observation.
Looking for weak spots
Governor Carl Decaluwé is not worried. ‘Yesterday, I had a meeting with my French colleagues and they have noticed a shift in the number of attempts, away from Calais and towards Dunkirk. This means that they are moving towards our border. We should perhaps view the two recent attempts in De Panne as a test run.’
‘It could be that people smugglers want to check how alert we still are. We have seen a surge in the past. People smugglers are looking for weak spots. At the same time, they are also using new techniques to make crossings, for example with taxi boats. In any case, the police are more alert than ever and we are keeping a close eye on everything’ Governor Decaluwé told VRT.