Inside Belgium port overrun with migrants who play cat-and-mouse with cops in bid to reach ‘soft touch Britain’
DARKNESS falls and the desperate migrants slither out of the bushes and hurl themselves at barbed wire fences.
They clamber across train tracks and sneak onto lorries, all the while dodging cops in a nightly game of cat-and-mouse.
We’re in Zubrugge, the tiny Belgian seaside town now linked forever to one of Britain’s biggest ever murder investigations.
This is where the 39 migrants departed in the ice coffin chiller lorry, before being found dead in Essex on Wednesday.
The horrendous tragedy underscores the dark underbelly of people trafficking – with migrants paying more than £30k to sneak into “soft touch Britain”.
Zebrugge has become a launch pad in recent years, with migrants boasting its lax border checks make it the “easiest route” to cross into the UK.
Speaking to the Sun Online, one migrant said: “Here, there are more chances to travel to Britain in the trucks.”
And despite the risks, he said he would try “every night” to get into the port to make the perilous crossing towards a new life.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:
- The bodies of 39 migrants were found in a lorry after it was picked up from Purfleet, Essex, on October 23
- Driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic humans, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering
- Three others have been arrested in connection with the tragedy
- Cheshire couple Thomas and Joanna Maher – who allegedly once owned the lorry – have been detained and remain in custody
- They are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter
- Mr Robinson reportedly phoned the emergency services 20 minutes after he picked up the lorry
- He will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on October 28
The driver of the lorry found with the bodies of 39 migrants was last night charged with manslaughter and will appear in court tomorrow.
Dad-to-be Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, 25, was arrested after the grisly discovery of the bodies in the back of a death-trap refrigerated lorry was made on an industrial estate in Grays at around 1.40am.
Three other people have also been arrested in connection with the tragedy, including haulage boss Thomas Maher and wife Joanna Maher, both 38, from Warrington, Cheshire.
As police scramble to untangle the people-smuggling gang feared to be preying on the migrants’ hopes, locals in Zeebrugge have spoken of the shocking crisis unravelling on their doorstep.
One person who sees the problem first-hand is Kevin Pearson, who works at the port and has since set up a Night Watch community group to monitor their movements.
He sees migrants almost every night, trying to clamber over barbed-wire fences and running towards the ferries or containers.
He told The Sun Online: “They are told it would be easier to get on the ships to get to the UK.
“That’s the reason they come here.”
And Mr Pearson said it would often turn into a “cat and mouse” game between migrants wanting to get into the port and police trying to stop them.
In just one night, The Sun Online witnessed migrants skulking around the port – creeping through long grass as they try to avoid security and their dogs.
They walk up and down the perimeter of the port, waiting for no one to be around before making a break for it.
Dotted along the fence line are half a dozen holes cut by migrants in an attempt to sneak through the barriers.
Security has tried to patch over the holes, but by the next night more appear.
Other evidence of ill-fated attempts include gloves caught in the barbed wire and mangled fences from where they have tried to climb over.
It’s unclear just how successful these brazen attempts are – with security sources saying they could see up to 20 migrants caught in one night.
But they are simply turned back to the village, ready to try again later.
The migrants say they are not afraid, despite hearing the horrific fate of the eight women and 31 men who died inside the refrigerated container as they tried to get to England.
One migrant, a 32-year-old from Libya, said they considered Zeebrugge after hearing there were “more chances” to get into the UK.
Another, who was too afraid to be named, said he heard about the bodies found in the container – but it wouldn’t stop him trying to get into one himself.
He simply said: “Life is like that. There is risk in life.”
Many migrants flock to the port’s local church, run by Pastor Fernand Marechal who helps feed and clothe them.
The men hungrily slurp up soup and try on hand-me-down clothes before heading back out onto the streets – vowing to try again at the port that night.
One of the men, a 16-year-old from the Western Sahara, said he had spent seven hours hiding under a truck from Italy to get to Zeebrugge – and he was willing to do it all again to get to the UK.
In the port town for the past 15 days, the teen has tried every night to hide in a truck.
But many migrants in Zeebrugge said they didn’t have any money and couldn’t pay a smuggler even if they wanted to. Others said they had used up all their money to pay smugglers just to get to Europe.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has since ordered an investigation into alleged human trafficking activities after fears the victims were from small farming communities in the Southeast Asian country.
AT A GLANCE: The town of Zeebrugge
The name: Zeebrugge means ‘Brugges at Sea’
Population: 4,000
The port: 40.1 million tons of goods were transshipped to and from the port in 2018. It is the world’s largest port for the import and export of new vehicles
It employs 11,000 people from neighbouring towns
Where: The Belgium town lies along the North Sea, 10 miles (16 km) north of Brugge. It is 70 miles from Brussels and 184 miles from London
Language: Locals speak mostly Flemish and French
Socio economic status: Working class
This week’s tragedy – that led to one of Britain’s largest murder investigations – sparked warnings about ruthless “Snakehead” gangs who charge thousands of pounds to smuggle desperate migrants into the UK before forcing them into labour jobs.
And one trafficker even laughed off the deaths of the group – saying: “It’s the luck of the draw”.
He claimed he could smuggle people into the UK for £14,000.
But for many migrants in Zeebrugge, they have a single goal.
One 25-year-old in a Liverpool FC shirt said he was considering the “free” way into the UK – including trying to swim there.
He dreams of moving in next door to Premier League ace Mo Salah.
He said: “We didn’t have any papers, any passports or any thing. And the government doesn’t help us. They detain you, take your fingerprints and throw you in the street.
“(In England), I will work, I will get a job, or married or anything. My country didn’t give me anything.”
He said he knew the dangers of trying to cross but simply pointed upwards, saying Allah would protect him.
FEAR ON THE STREETS
But the presence of migrants in their small town has left some locals uneasy.
One local shop owner, who was too scared to be named for fear of reprisal, told how one migrant tried to stab her when she called the police on him for stealing cans of drink.
She told The Sun Online: “When I called the police in front of him he pulled a knife out and he hit me in the (shoulder) bone.
“I was so lucky the knife didn’t open to my throat, it opened in his hand.”
The young woman, who has lived in Zeebrugge her whole life, said just a week later she was confronted by a migrant who pushed her and kicked her car.
It is one of the more violent confrontations, but locals are becoming increasingly afraid such incidents will continue if nothing is done.
People are afraid in the morning or evening to take the tram
Nancy Dewitte
The seaside homes are often empty, serving as holiday houses, and locals say they are prime targets for migrants wanting to find somewhere to shelter.
They say homes where port workers are also targeted as migrants hope to steal uniforms to be able to blend into the port.
Many migrants sleep in the sand dunes next to the port – lives that are a stark contrast to the locals who walk up and down the boardwalk with their dogs.
Local Nancy Dewitte, 53, said she was only confident to walk the streets when she had her German shepherd, Shadow, with her.
She said: “People are afraid in the morning or evening to take the tram.
“After dark, not many people dare to come out.”
Truck drivers are constantly on high alert for migrants trying to sneak into the back of their huge vehicles.
But lorry driver Hans Phillipe said it was impossible to guard his truck 24/7 from migrants.
He said: “You have to watch it all night, you don’t want anyone to get in.
“They cut it open, they cut the roof open or unlash it.
“If they want to get in – they get in.”
He said ports normally check the trailers but it was still possible for migrants to get inside – particularly if they had help.
The driver of more than three decades added: “We know (human trafficking) is around but we have never seen it.
“They put a lash on the trailer put people in it, and then they close it.
‘You can’t do that with one person – you need three or four people.”
VILLAGE OF THE DOOMED Up to 25 victims in Essex lorry may be from same village in Vietnam
UP to 25 victims of the Essex lorry horror are from one Vietnamese farming village, it was claimed.
Families in Yen Thanh are in mourning after hearing nothing from loved ones. It is feared they were among 31 men and eight women found in a refrigerated trailer, 5,000 miles away in Grays on Wednesday.
The family of Pham Thi Tra My, 26, told how she was tricked into paying £30,000 for a “VIP” trip.
Tra My texted her mum “I love you so much. I’m dying because I can’t breathe”, as she suffocated in the sealed trailer, it is claimed.
Dad Pham Van Thin said he and his wife paid Snakehead gangs £30,000 for their daughter’s trip despite earning just £400 a month.
Pham said: “I’ve lost my loved one and my money. The smugglers said this was a safe way — by plane or car.
“If I’d known she would go by this route, I would not have let her go.”
Det Chief Insp Martin Pasmore, heading the task of identifying the bodies, said his team had found “very few” documents in the lorry.
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He said he himself had found about 14 people, including a pregnant woman, inside his truck about 15 years ago.
And he said he was disgusted that anyone would take advantage of desperate people trying to find a better life.
Hans said: “People who put people in it should be shot.”