Police targeting human trafficking rings

Belgian police have ramped up efforts to curb the practice of human trafficking through the country en-route to the UK. On Monday night the prosecutor’s office set an operation in motion along the Brussels Ostend motorway, targeting parking lots that are frequently used to load undocumented immigrants in transport trucks headed to the UK.

An increasing number of incidents have pushed officials to take further action in preventing the practice that most often sees people trafficked from the North of France. Some of these incidents in the past few months have turned violent when police have intervened, including one in September when one person was injured.

By targeting the pick-up points along the autoroute, police and prosecutors hope to catch traffickers in the act through very visable public operations, which may help deter others from continuing with the practice.