The growing number of migrants reported at the highway barrier A10 between Italy and France shows an increase of the overall migrant flows in Ventimiglia, at the border with Italy and France.
In the Italian-French border town of Ventimiglia, police reports of people waiting at the A10 highway border are increasing. The night between Monday (August 29) and Tuesday was particularly busy for the road police of the town of Imperia who was called repeatedly for a number of reports.
The persons on the road are reported to be migrants waiting to board a vehicle crossing the border or prepared to reach France on foot.
An unknown modus operandi
The number of reports of migrants spotted is growing together with the number of new boat arrivals. It appears that the modus operandi is always the same.
Smugglers reportedly accompany small groups of migrants to the border with the highway, hiking up the slopes that bring directly to the highway tollgate. There the migrants wait for a chance to board a heavy vehicle.
Trucks have now been prohibited from stopping -- a measure introduced to prevent these operations. In the past, smugglers even arranged for migrants to be placed under the heavy vehicle, in its 'belly' amid wooden planks.
Most of the times the truck driver is unaware of the entire operation and only realizes of the migrants' presence when opening the truck.
Highway blocked last week due to the presence of migrants
On August 25, vehicle travel on highway A10 was blocked for over an hour because seven migrants were seen walking along the highway, approximately near the location of Belvedere, after the Ventimiglia tollgate, headed toward France.
Long queues formed rapidly at the highway border, with trucks blocked. The road police and the highway A10 operators looked for them to guarantee the route's safety in order to reopen the passage to traffic.