French police have arrested close to 150 migrants near the port of Calais in a raid on a sprawling tent city of people trying to secretly cross to Britain, authorities said today.
Hundreds of migrants, mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea, live in makeshift tents in the woods near Calais, known locally as the "jungle," as they wait for their chance to board a truck and cross the Channel.
"To say or suggest that smugglers and traffickers rule in Calais is unacceptable, and from that point of view, the state had to show its determination," Immigration Minister Eric Besson told reporters in Paris.
He said the three-hour raid this morning was aimed at destroying a network of people traffickers, and not at detaining illegal immigrants.
The people under arrest are being held for questioning.
France is struggling to control the growing "jungle," which sprang up after it closed a Red Cross shelter in the area in 2002 that Britain saw as a haven for illegal migrants.
Besson is expected to visit Calais later this week. He said earlier this month that more people have managed to cross the Channel over the past year or two, and that people trafficking networks were becoming more sophisticated.
Many of the migrants speak English and believe it will be easier to find work in Britain.