More human trafficking last year

Last year, the Royal Military Police encountered a hefty rise in cases of human trafficking and smuggling, busting 175 cases of person smuggling in 2013, a 25 percent increase from the year before, the NOS reports. The number of illegals that came to the Netherlands in 2013 remained relatively constant. According to commandant Leijtens, it concerns 1500 people without the correct documents. Many of these hail from Afghanistan and Syria. The Police officers mainly patrol borders at Schiphol and in the harbors, as people smugglers belong to international networks. Most of the time, the illegals end up in this country after having been told fraudulent information in their own countries, consequently being brought to their destinations by the smugglers. The Military Police also discovered 122 cases of human trafficking, which is an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. Many times, this is a direct relation to the world of prostitution. Refugees from Afghanistan and Syria often want to continue on to Germany, Scandinavia and France to visit family or acquaintances, Leijtens says. They go through the Netherlands because of the good transport possibilities, which makes it a leading transit country.