Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
DFDS Seaways ferry 'King Seaways' in IJmuiden. 10 Dec. 2011
DFDS Seaways ferry 'King Seaways' in IJmuiden. 10 Dec. 2011 - Credit: Robert Cutts / Flickr - License: CC-BY-SA
Crime
stowaways
ferry
Albania
United Kingdom
Hoek van Holland
England
IJmuiden
Europoort
Vlissingen
Ineke Vos
undocumented migrant
asylum
Friday, August 11, 2017 - 15:30
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Dutch port cities increasingly struggle with Albanian stowaways: report

Dutch harbors with ferries to England are increasingly faced with Albanians trying to secretly cross to the United Kingdom, according to the Volkskrant. Over the past few months, hundreds of Albanian stowaways were caught in IJmuiden, Hoek van Holland, Europoort and Vlissingen. 

While the number of caught stowaways is comparable to last year - 440 in the first half of this year - the proportion of Albanians among them is increasing steadily, especially in Hoek van Holland and Europoort. In those two ports 92 percent of the caught stowaways were Albanian. 

Hoek van Holland residents are experiencing some more problems with Albanians camping out in the woods, leaving their garbage and pubic urination. Though the actual crime rate seems not to be increasing, the neighborhood police officer and local residents said to the newspaper. "They don't do anything wrong because they do not want to be arrested", Ineke Vos of the village's area committee said to the newspaper. 

Albania is a poor country with a very high unemployment rate, and therefore also has one of Europe's highest emigration figures. The stowaways from Albania are trying to reach England because they have a better there to be granted asylum or to find work as an undocumented migrant. In the Netherlands, checks on undocumented migrants are stricter and the fines are higher. The Netherlands also considers Albania to be a safe country, so asylum seekers from there have little to no chance to get refugee status here. 

If an Albanian is caught trying to sneak onto a ferry in the Netherlands, their right of residence to the European Union is deprived and they have to leave the Netherlands within a few days, according to the newspaper. How often this happens in practice is not clear. 

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • 7 million people could lose drinking water as climate change hits Maas river: Report
  • Physicians think next Covid wave will catch Cabinet off-guard; Too little urgency
  • Addiction institute warns against life-threatening MDMA liquid
  • Mayors to arrange extra asylum shelter as long as Cabinet keeps its promises
  • Travel industry workers could fill staffing gaps at Schiphol this summer
  • Convicted crime boss Willem Holleeder sent to prison for life on appeal

Top stories

  • Consumer spending pushed Dutch economic growth in first quarter
  • Hope of EU membership big support for Ukraine, Dutch PM says
  • Transavia summer flight cancellations breaking EU rules: Consumers Assoc.
  • KLM: Most passengers with summer bookings will not face Schiphol cancellations
  • Waiting lists pushing trans teens to buy transition medicines online
  • Covid vaccines not linked to excess mortality, says Dutch stats office

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content