A search of a van near the Rotterdam Port uncovered six men, likely of Iranian and Iraqi nationality, hidden in a small secret compartment inside the vehicle. Four people were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling after authorities made the discovery.
The van, which had a Romanian license plate, was inspected by authorities before driving aboard a ferry headed to England. The six others in the vehicle shot out of the van when officers found the hidden compartment.
Four stowaways were found hidden aboard a cargo ship in Vlissingen-Oost, the Marechaussee military branch said. The four men from the Dominican republic were discovered between sea containers onboard the vessel as it journeyed from South America to the Netherlands.
The ship’s crew made the find and reported it to Dutch authorities, who boarded the ship after it docked in the Netherlands. The four men requested to legally be allowed to stay.
Last year the Koninklijke Marechaussee and the Seaport police found a total of 1,480 documented migrants hiding in trucks, trailers or containers, compared to 1,371 in 2018 and 944 in 2017. The largest part of this group concerned people from Afghanistan and Albania trying to get to the United Kingdom.
The Ministry of Justice and Security told NOS that the number of stowaways has been fluctuating for years. "The controls were tightened in 2015 when it appeared that the number was increasing. That has had effect, and that is why we will continue to pursue this effort."
A 39-year-old truck driver from Romania was arrested after 25 stowaways were found hiding in the refrigerated container of his truck on board a ferry to England on Tuesday. He is in custody on suspicion of human trafficking while the police investigate whether he was aware of the people hiding in his truck, a police spokesperson said to NU.nl.
Sixteen undocumented migrants were found hiding in the back of a truck at the port of IJmuiden on Thursday. Among them were four children, one woman and eleven men, of various nationalities, the Koninklijke Marechaussee, a military policing force tasked with border security, said on Facebook.
An employee at the port, who asked to remain anonymous, told NH Nieuws that the children were "no older than around 8". He was there when the truck was opened. "There stood a small boy with a teddy bear in his hands", the port worker said.
Two men from Moldavia were arrested in Ter Apel on Wednesday morning on suspicion of human trafficking. The Koninklijke Marechaussee found that they were transporting 10 people in their van, all also with Moldovan nationality.
None of the people in the van had valid border crossing documents, prompting suspicions of human trafficking, the Marechaussee said on Facebook. The driver and passenger in the front seat were arrested. They are in custody and will be arraigned on Friday.
The Koninklijke Marechaussee found a total of 23 migrants hiding in trucks at Hoek van Holland on Tuesday. Two truck drivers were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, the Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military and is responsible for border security, said on Facebook.
The Koninklijke Marechaussee found 18 stowaways in the back of a truck at the Europoort in the port of Rotterdam on Saturday night. Seven of the stowaways were children between the ages of 1 and 15 years, the Marechassee said on Facebook.
The Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military and is responsible for border security, found the people hiding behind a double wall in the truck's cargo hold. According to the Marechaussee, it involves several families, believed to be from India.
The police and Koninklijke Marechaussee found 18 stowaways hidden in a "tiny, extremely hot space" between a load of tires in a small truck at Hoek van Holland on Sunday. Among the stowaways were five children between the ages of 5 and 14 and a pregnant woman. "Despite the miserable conditions in which they found themselves, all stowaways were in good health", the police said in a statement.
Police and officers from the Koninklijke Marechaussee converged on the DFDS ferry port in Vlaardingen on Tuesday morning to track down on undocumented migrants attempting the journey to the United Kingdom. A team of about thirty people were accompanied by police dogs to check any truck which caused the canines distress.
Sniffer dogs will be used to check each vehicle entering the ferry. If the dog signals that something is off, that vehicle will be thoroughly searched. Authorities were also using equipment to measure levels of carbon dioxide as a way of finding the migrants.
A truck driver was surprised by a strange stowaway in Aalsmeer on Monday. When the trucker, who came from Austria, stopped on Aalsmeerderweg, a cat jumped out of his truck, Dierenambulance de Ronde Venen/Amstelland said on Facebook.
Dierenambulance believes that the cat stowed away on the truck in St Georgen, near Salzburg in Austria. The adventurous critter therefore had quite a trip behind it by the time it jumped off the truck in the Netherlands.
The police found dozens of stowaways on the industrial estate in Moerdijk this week. A total of 32 were found on Wednesday, and another seven on Tuesday. Undocumented migrants are often found in Moerdijk, trying to get to England via the seaport in the Noord-Brabant town, NOS reports.
The police found eight stowaways in a truck near Moerdijk, Noord-Brabant on Tuesday. They were taken to a police station for further investigation.
Police officers searched the truck after the driver reported that there may be people hiding inside, according to RTL Nieuws. The stowaways were taken out of the truck at the Streepland parking lot along the A16/A59.
At this stage nothing is known about the identity of the people or where they come from. The police believe they are asylum seekers trying to cross Europe illegally, according to the broadcaster.
The police found a total of 19 undocumented migrants on and around a parking lot on the A67 just south of Eindhoven during the early hours of Tuesday morning, ANP reports.
Patrolling officers noticed a delivery van parked on the parking lot. They checked it out and found 13 people in the cargo area. In the woods next to the parking lot, another six people were found, including a child.
The police don't yet know where these undocumented migrants are from. They were taken to a police station in Eindhoven.
The immigration police are investigating.
The police found 11 stowaways, including a pregnant woman, in the back of a refrigerated truck on the A67 in Bladel on Thursday evening. The Polish truck driver called the police when he heard voices in his trailer, RTL Nieuws reports.
The stowaways spent two days in the back of the truck. Fortunately, the cooling element was not turned on. All eleven people are adults and were in good health.
A total of 840 people tried to illegally cross from the Netherlands over to Britain between January and September this year, according to figures the Ministry of Security and Justice released on Tuesday. That number is already much higher than in all of 2015, when a total of around 500 stowaways were caught, ANP reports.
