Transitmigranten: “Verlinden blind en doof voor onderbezetting bij politie”
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Het Vlaams Belang is ontsteld dat minister van Binnenlandse Zaken Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) geen concrete maatregelen wil nemen om het steeds weerkerend fenomeen van de illegale transitmigranten aan onze kust aan te pakken. “Meer nog, de politiediensten zijn hiervoor structureel onderbezet, maar Verlinden ontkent gewoonweg dat er een probleem bestaat”, zegt Kamerlid Wouter Vermeersch (Vlaams Belang). “En dit terwijl gouverneur en kustburgemeesters hard aan de alarmbel trekken.”
Eind mei werden op één week tijd tweemaal een tachtigtal ‘transmigranten’aangetroffen in de duinen van Oostduinkerke. Ze wilden in een ongeschikt bootje en beladen met kilo’s speed en heroïne het Verenigd Koninkrijk bereiken. Naar aanleiding van dit gebeuren peilde Vermeersch bij minister Verlinden naar de vrijmaking van noodzakelijke extra middelen, naar het al even noodzakelijke overleg met gouverneur en burgemeesters en naar de samenwerking met Frankrijk en Groot-Brittannië. “Helaas zonder veel resultaat”, aldus Vermeersch. “We kunnen enkel vaststellen dat Verlinden de situatie volledig onderschat. Net zoals op de Middellandse Zee, zijn er verschillende routes richting het Verenigd Koninkrijk en die routes kunnen zich steeds verleggen.”
“Verlinden denkt dat een probleem van de baan is als je het bestaan ervan ontkent, maar het wordt op die manier alleen maar erger”
Het Vlaams Belang mocht van minister Verlinden geen enkele concrete maatregel vernemen om het probleem daadwerkelijk aan te pakken. “Maar het meest schokkend was nog de totale negatie van het probleem van de onderbezetting bij de politie”, vervolgt Vermeersch. “De federale politie kon die dagen aan de kust geen extra manschappen leveren omdat deze nodig waren voor de zoektocht naar Jürgen Conings in Limburg. Hoe kan er in zulke omstandigheden degelijk werk geleverd worden?”
“Er dringen zich krachtige maatregelen op om de illegaliteit, maar ook de criminaliteit aan onze kust te doen afnemen”, besluit Vermeersch. “Verlinden moet preventief werken, met strenge grenscontroles, actieve opsporing van illegalen en een permanente bewaking van de Vlaamse kust. En daarnaast ook curatief, met een harde aanpak van mensensmokkelaars en een kordaat terugkeerbeleid.”