Big rise in Calais migrants trying to break into Britain

THE number of illegal migrants arrested in lorries heading to Britain from Calais has risen by 76 per cent this year, it emerged today.

The figure equates to 13,715 people being stopped in lorries between January and June, compared with 7,760 in the same period last year. Most were released without charge, allowing them to resume their bids to enter Britain.

A further 5,207 people were stopped across the Calais region, making a total of 18,922 arrests. Of these just 5,865 - or 31 per cent - were investigated. Without money or official papers, they were practically impossible to prosecute.

A spokesman for the French Frontier Police said: "At most we were able to deport them to the country which they arrived from. Unfortunately in most cases this turned out to be Belgium, which meant we left them over the border, before they arrived back in Calais a few hours later."

An Anglo-French committee of police and council officials in Calais is trying to resolve the problem.