New action plan combats human trafficking

Minister of Security and the Interior Jan Jambon is launching an action plan to combat trafficking in illegal migrants. Minister Jambon wants to tackle the acute problem of migrants who see our country as a stopover on the road to Great Britain resolutely with three concrete measures. In their attempts to cross the Channel in trucks, they are increasingly using violence, not only against truck drivers, but also against the police.

Three concrete measures

The minister proposes three measures that should deter human traffickers.

1. Five motorway service areas in the direction of the coast, which attract many transmigrants, will be monitored from sunset to sunrise. For the time being, the police are responsible for this, but in the short term (hopefully by the end of this week) a private security firm will take on this task.
2. Both local and federal police will carry out daily checks. These involve unannounced, flexible operations on the railway, along motorways and in the port of Zeebrugge.
3. The task force to combat human trafficking is taking things one step further. In order to stifle illegal practices as efficiently as possible, security services and the courts will exchange information about gangs next week.

Discouraging and punishing human trafficking

“The operations and the monitoring will at least act as a disincentive”, says Minister Jambon. “Moreover, it allows us to further identify the trafficking networks. I want to make it so difficult for human traffickers that they will no longer choose our country for their activities.”