Harrowing journey in search of freedom
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Your support makes all the difference.Like thousands of other asylum seekers, Rahaman (not his real name) was prepared to risk his life clinging to the bottom of a goods train for the chance of freedom in Britain.
From his home in Afghanistan to the camp at Sangatte, he had already covered thousands of miles and suffered hardship. The mile walk from the camp to the Frethun freight terminal was easy in comparison. The terminal is surrounded by perimeter fences but Rahaman was still able to get close because security is not always tight. His first attempt to climb over the security fences nevertheless failed. He was loaded into a van by French gendarmes and taken straight back to Sangatte.
The next time he guaranteed his place as a stowaway by paying a go-between more than £2,000. A portion of this money was then used to bribe one of the numerous track workers.
It did not take long for him to seize his opportunity. The trains thundering past have to stop near the fences or reduce their speed, which gives people the opportunity to leap on to the sides.
His solicitor Mohammed Hoshi, based in London, said that many of his clients have paid for access to the trains. "They [the guards] charged my client £2,500 to let them get on to the train. Most of the refugees get injured – it's very dangerous."
For the 30-minute journey from Calais to Ashford, Rahaman clung to metal parallel bars attached to the undercarriage of the train. Next to him were other asylum seekers with little support between themselves and the track. Exhausted and filthy at the end of his journey, it wasn't long before he was picked up by police. The people smuggler had warned him to deny that he had travelled from Sangatte.
"Refugees are immediately sent back if officials can prove they came from the camp and did not apply for asylum in France," said Mr Hoshi. "They can be detected by as little as a scrap of paper in their pocket linking them to the camp. And if they pass through Waterloo and are found in the train carriages then they could only have come from Sangatte."
Handcuffed, Rahaman was taken to the local police station. Mr Hoshi said immigration officials could interview asylum seekers at police stations but often custody sergeants at the stations are keen to push the problem elsewhere.
Rahaman was quickly shunted to a holding centre in Dover and interrogated by immigration officials and told to fill in the application for asylum within 10 days. According to Mr Hoshi, the average wait for an interview is five weeks but he has one client who waited two years.
"Forms get lost or clients are told to fill them in wrongly by unscrupulous lawyers. Benefits are often cut while asylum seekers are waiting. Most cases where officials suspect people have come from Sangatte are dealt with more quickly because they don't want to encourage people to think that Britain is the Promised Land," he said.
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