Increase in fare dodger detentions

Agents of Securail, the security arm of Belgian railway operator SNCB / NMBS, detained  480 fare dodgers in the first six months of 2013, three times more than a year before, spokesman Louis Maraites has told La Dernière Heure. Securail conducted 270 detentions in 2012. This is explained in part by train passengers’ poor knowledge of Securail’s remit, the newspaper says. Sworn officers now have the right to request identity documents from anyone caught travelling without a valid ticket and to detain them for up to two hours, while the police arrives. No official figures are available for Brussels public transport company STIB, although the trend is expected to be similar.