Immigration racket busted, 200 Indians held in Brussels

Brussels prosecutors said today they have broken up “the core” of a people trafficking gang involved in smuggling illegal immigrants and 15 suspected traffickers were arrested while they were moving 200 Indians from Belgium to Britain.

Fifteen suspected traffickers were arrested as well as almost 200 illegal immigrants, all Indian nationals, following a series of raids in Brussels and the surrounding area. The gang planned to smuggle the migrants into Britain for sums ranging from 1,500 euros to 5,000 euros per person, deputy public prosecutor Tim De Wolf told the Belga national news agency. “They are mainly Indian men aged between 15 and 35 years old, and also some women and children,” De Wolf said. They generally came through Moscow where and paid nearly 20,000 euros in total, he added. The would-be immigrants arrested in the raids were being kept in very poor conditions, he said.

“We found 24 people crammed inside one windowless room, measuring around 129 sq ft,” De Wolf said. Police also found around 50 illegal immigrants in a Sikh temple in Vilvorde, north of Brussels.“We arrested at least two people that we believe were the brains behind the trafficking operations in Belgium,” De Wolf said.

“They controlled a whole series of little groups, sometimes working together, sometimes competing against each other. We hope that we have broken up the core of the network,” he said after a year-long operation.