Boats carrying 200 migrants were escorted from the Flemish coast to French waters last weekend. Why does Belgium’s federal police not arrest them off our coast? “At all costs we want to avoid anyone losing their life during a rescue operation like that,” says police spokesperson An Berger, who has seen the problem escalate significantly this spring.
Why did Belgian police escort transmigrants off the Flemish coast to France and not arrest them?
Colin Clapson
Published:
Between the West Flemish resorts of Oostduinkerke and Middelkerke, five boats carrying a total of 200 transmigrants were intercepted between a week last Friday and last Saturday. It is striking that Belgium’s federal police did not take the people off the boats and arrest them, but instead escorted the boats to French waters.
“That is a emergency measure,” explains police spokesperson An Berger. “Because our primary aim remains to get these people back ashore on the Belgian coast.”
This would enable the Belgian police to launch an investigation into human trafficking. It would also act as a deterrent to transmigrants seeking to make the crossing from the Flemish coast, via France, to the United Kingdom.
Ultimately, four of the five boats managed to reach the United Kingdom. One of the boats ran into trouble in French waters, during which around 20 people were reportedly taken off board, but was subsequently able to continue its journey.
According to the federal police, the problem was that the migrants could not be safely rescued from the water. And that, according to An Berger, was the issue: “The boats were overloaded, with a great many people on board.”
For example, two of the five boats were carrying 50 people, with the likely intention of taking more people on board whilst still in French waters.
“As a result, these boats sit very low in the water, whilst very often the people on board are not wearing life jackets,” the police spokesperson continued. At best, the passengers are wearing car tire inner tubes, which are meant to serve as life jackets.
To prevent anyone from drowning during a police intervention, the police say they often have to choose to escort boats like these to French territorial waters.
Taxi boats
The issue of transmigrants attempting to cross the English Channel from the European mainland to the United Kingdom has been around for years, Berger notes.
“We first noticed this phenomenon in 2019, but back then the migrants always set off from France, because the distance from there to the UK is 35 kilometres, whereas from the Belgian coast it is easily 70 kilometres.”
However, since the start of this year, as the French police have stepped up their checks, the phenomenon has shifted to the Flemish coast. Human traffickers are therefore seeking new smuggling routes and are using the technique of ‘taxi boats’. They pick up refugees along the Flemish coast and then sail further along the coastline towards France.
This year, the federal police have already counted 27 boats that have departed from the Belgian coast in this manner.
Efforts are made
The police stopped five boats and prevented others from making the crossing by apprehending the migrants or seizing ‘nautical equipment’. Such equipment includes rubber dinghies, outboard motors, life jackets or inflatable rings used as life jackets.
To curb the problem, the federal police insist that they will continue to carry out checks, as this has a deterrent effect.
Since early March, the federal police have been assisting local police forces along the coast. This, for example, can involve deploying a police helicopter to scan the dunes. “Almost every day, we stop vehicles or find nautical equipment,” says An Berger.
At the same time, the police want to tackle the root of the problem: breaking up the big gangs behind human trafficking. “So far this year the federal judicial police have already opened 30 cases relating to human trafficking in small boats,” says Berger.
“The aim is to achieve international collaboration, as there are international (criminal) organisations behind the people trafficking operating from Germany, the United Kingdom and France.”
The aim is to penetrate to the top of these criminal organisations through thorough investigation and apprehend the people who commission the operations.