People smugglers are risking the lives of desperate migrants by hiding them on top of the engines of cars and lorries.
Criminal gangs were using the ‘extremely dangerous’ method to sneak people across borders – unconcerned whether or not their victims died.
Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said traffickers were ‘taking advantage of the space available between the engine and the bonnet’ to conceal their human cargo.
It said the ruse was ‘potentially life-endangering’ as it warned that migrant smuggling was now a major business for criminals across Europe.
Asylum seekers were being charged as much as £6,200 each to be crammed by a vehicle’s engine in the hope of evading border guards – despite the risk of death.
A Europol report has revealed the shocking tactics people smugglers are using to get migrants into the UK. Desperate aslyum seekers are clambering into the engine compartments of cars and lorries. File image used
Other dangerous methods used by traffickers include driving at high speed and packing migrants into over-crowded lorries and vans with a lack of air to breathe or even concealing them in ‘airtight containers’.
Their perilous conditions highlight the life-threatening measures refugees are taking to start a new life as the migrant crisis continues to engulf Europe.
The Europol report said: ‘One of the most recently detected transportation methods is to conceal irregular migrants in engine compartments while crossing the borders.
‘Before approaching the border crossing points the migrants are placed in the engine compartment of the vehicle used for their transportation.
The migrants are hidden on top of the vehicle’s engine taking advantage of the space available between the engine and the bonnet.
‘The method is extremely dangerous and the lives of migrants crossing the border in this manner may be at risk.
‘The irregular migrants travel together with the smuggler for the majority of the journey and are only concealed in this way during the border crossings.
The people smugglers are risking migrants’ lives and charging them up to £6,200 to do so. File image used
‘ These developments demonstrate that migrant smuggling remains a highly attractive business among criminals.’
Rob Wainwright, the British executive director of Europol, said: ‘Migrant smuggling has become a big and dangerous business in Europe.
‘In the face of increased pressure from law enforcement authorities criminal groups are resorting to desperate methods to smuggle victims across border, often with life-threatening consequences.’
Other trends identified by Europol include the use of sailing yachts for smuggling migrants from Turkey to Italy, refugees using the EU as a springboard to reach the US and Canada and an increase in migrants making treacherous journeys across the Mediterranean to Spain.
So far this year some 140,000 migrants have arrived in the EU by sea.
Migrants are so desperate for a better life in the UK they are prepared to hide in engines of vehicles as they cross the border. Around 140,000 have arrived in the EU by sea this year. File image used