An international haulier said last night that Romanian refugees, including one group of more than 30 people, were being smuggled into sealed freight containers at French ports. "Some people are going to die, sooner or later. These people seem to be prepared to do anything, out of sheer desperation."
The British haulier, who did not want to be identified, said the trafficking of people appeared to be highly organised around the French ports of Cherbourg and Calais. A Department of Justice source confirmed that there was concern that gangs based in French ports are profiting from the trade in co-operation with Irish-based counterparts. "Containers have been found where the seal was intact but there were people inside them. There is no evidence it's going on in a large scale, but it is happening."
The haulier said one driver found that people had been smuggled into his refrigerated container. "Another container stopped at Portsmouth had 37 people in it." He said the operation had to be well-organised as security around the ports was stringent. Some drivers found that the roofs of their containers had been cut and resewn from the inside by groups of people trying to get into Britain and Ireland.
Up to 90 per cent of asylum seekers present themselves first at the Department of Justice, according to the source. The remainder are stopped at the point of entry and obliged to make applications there.
"Part of the problem is that a large number of Romanians have been living around the French ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg for a number of years and are keen to get to Ireland or Britain."
Large numbers of containers are shipped through the smaller ports like Waterford and the containers are usually loaded and taken off ferries by tractor units, to be collected by drivers at the other end of the journey. The travel time between being loaded onto the ferry and driven away from the other side can be up to 48 hours.
A spokeswoman for the Refugee Council said that people who "flee from their country have usually managed to get their friends and family to raise money." But illegal entry into a country was recognised under the UN Convention as a legitimate way to seek asylum, she said.
Last year there were reports that international criminals were charging refugees five-figure sums for passage out of their native countries. People would be given false documents and some form of passage to a new country.
The spokeswoman said the people discovered in two containers yesterday would probably be covered by the Dublin Convention, which stipulates that asylum seekers must make their application in their first European port of call.
The Rev John Rochfort, a member of the Refugee Council, who runs a hostel in Waterford said he was preparing for the arrival of at least one of the two groups last night. He said he would give them a copy of the Dublin Convention.
A Department of Justice source said it was likely that the groups would be legally obliged to apply for asylum in France. Last year French police targeted a Madrid-based syndicate trafficking Romanian refugees to Ireland, with stolen passports. More than 30 Romanians were arrested carrying the passports. Twelve had been arrested in Brittany on their way to Ireland, with stolen Spanish passports.
Last night the Democratic Left spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz McManus, accused the Government of preparing a "zero tolerance" approach to asylum seekers. Ms McManus said the latest recommendations of a Government committee on asylum seekers ruled out any amnesty and would "result in many immigrants being denied essential state services for themselves and their families."