Migrants Trafficked By ‘English Mafia’ – French Mayor

© Juan Medina / Reuters

Violent English gangs are smuggling migrants into Britain from northern France in trucks, a French mayor has suggested. The ‘English mafia’ use guns and threats to force migrants into vehicles traveling to the UK, Mayor of Teteghem Franck Dhersin told the BBC.

He said traffickers are collecting migrants from camps and forcing them to stowaway on trucks. Dhersin said he had once tried to enter a camp, but was confronted by a man with a gun who threatened to rape a female reporter who was traveling with him.

Police officers at the camp told him not to return.

“[The] cars are English and the owners are English. The smugglers just want to make money from migrants. The smugglers are very violent,” Dhersin said.

RT UK report continues:

The mayor said while the gangs had been in operation for many years in the area, they had now become more organized to take advantage of the growing number of migrants arriving in the region.

Cars with British license plates have been seen at the camp in Teteghem, the BBC reported.

One Syrian migrant said he had so far paid traffickers £15,000 (US$23,500) in his attempt to reach Britain, and had been threatened with violence by the smugglers if he didn’t follow orders.

“I’m so, so scared,” he said. “They have guns. They put it to someone’s head and said ‘You move again and I will kill you.’”

A Home Office spokesperson said British and French authorities were working to tackle the problem.

“We are working closely with the French authorities to deal with the situation in northern France.

“We are increasing joint intelligence work to target the organized crime gangs behind people smuggling and ... work closely with [our] French counterparts.

“The UK is playing a leading role in pushing for action through the EU and the UN to tackle the causes of illegal immigration and the organized trafficking gangs behind it that exploit migrants at each stage of their journey.”

Pascal Aerts, of the French police, said he could not confirm the identities of the traffickers.

“I don’t have proof that they’re English but we know perfectly there [are] links between the traffickers and the receivers in Great Britain, and with the traffickers who work in France.”

55 People Found Crammed Into 3 East London Properties In ‘Terrible’ Conditions

© Barking and Dagenham council

Council officers clamping down on rogue landlords raided three East London properties on Thursday to discover a total of 55 people, including children, living in “terrible” conditions. During a series of raids on rented homes in Dagenham, over 20 people including four children were found living in an “illegally converted” overcrowded terraced home.

The cramped home was extended by the landlord with an extra bedroom in the loft and a brick-built shed in the back garden.

“I’m absolutely shocked there could be 22 people living there. We had no idea. I’ve ever heard of that many people being in a property. We will be looking into it,” property manager Iyak Hussain said.

Less than a mile away on Japan Road, another property was raided where 15 people, including five children, were found living in five rooms of a three-bedroom home.

© Barking and Dagenham council

In another nearby property on Manor Road, officers found 18 people, including two children, in a three-bedroom house being treated as a six-bedroom property.

A neighbor of one of the homes said it’s “almost impossible” to believe people can be living in those conditions with children.

“Rent can be expensive but that is just too many people to live in one house. It can’t be safe and it’s a terrible way to live,” Agne Arlauskiene, 34, told the Standard.

 “It’s unacceptable to have these almost Dickensian conditions in a world class city such as London,” Barking and Dagenham Councilor Laila Butt told the paper.

Amendments to the Immigration Bill will allow landlords to terminate a tenancy agreement when their tenants’ right to remain in the UK finishes.

Landlords are being urged to check their tenants’ immigration status before offering them a tenancy agreement. Those who fail to do so will have committed a criminal offence and could face a hefty fine.

Raids are being carried out by councils to clamp down on landlords who “profit” from illegal immigrants.

“No one should be profiting from illegal immigration, and that includes landlords,” Conservative Party MP Kris Hopkins said.

Furthermore, some tenants may be forced to overcrowd properties because of the booming housing crisis in Britain.

Damning statistics released by the Ministry of Justice on Thursday show over 43,000 households in rented housing in England and Wales were evicted in the past year – a 50 percent increase in four years.

Evictions began to rise after the coalition government introduced cuts to housing benefits in 2011.

The figures come after research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed there has been a surge in ‘overcrowded’ homes in Britain. Over 3 million people now live in a household with at least five other individuals.

House prices have also soared in recent years, leading vulnerable families to live in overcrowded conditions.

According to Shelter, the housing crisis has caused levels of homelessness to rise. The number of homeless households has risen by more than 50,000 in the past year.