Belgian police detained in France after driving van full of refugees ‘trying to reach the UK’ over border

Two Belgian police officers have been detained on accusations of “aiding illegal immigration” in France after driving van full of refugees to the border, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Belgian authorities said they were transporting migrants back to the neighbouring country but had not meant to cross into it.

The officers were at a border crossing near the northern French commune of Nieppe on Tuesday when an alarmed lorry driver heard noise coming from the unmarked vehicle.

He called police, who found 13 refugees from Syria and Iraq inside. They were reportedly aiming to reach the UK by journeying to Calais but had boarded a vehicle travelling in the wrong direction.

The two Belgian officers were briefly detained but released after interviews, with the asylum seekers, who include three children, being kept in custody for checks.

A spokesman for France’s Nord department said: “French authorities have expressed their utter disapproval following this initiative, which does not comply with the usual working practices between France and Belgium.”

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, summoned the Belgian ambassador to express his “indignation” on Wednesday.

He also phoned his Belgian counterpart, Jan Jambon, sparking an angry response from Belgium’s SLFP police union, who are threatening to strike over the row.

Its president, Vincent Gilles, told the Associated Press the two officers had only passed a few yards into French territory and were held for four hours without a lawyer or interpreter.

He said the group of refugees had been detained in Belgium on Tuesday and that police were ordered to take them to the border so they could leave the country safely rather than walking along motorways.

“Our colleagues did not notice they had passed the border by around 50 metres,” Mr Gilles added.

The union has given official notification that it will mount a 24-hour strike next week unless Mr Jambon arranges a meeting with police.

Georges Aeck, the commissioner of Ypres police in Belgium, was outraged.

“We didn’t do it for money, this isn't human trafficking,” he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. “We only gave them a hand. We took them a little way in the direction they wanted to go.”

Tensions between France and Belgium have lingered since the Paris attacks, which threw border controls into the spotlight after suspect Salah Abdeslam was allowed through checks while fleeing to Brussels on the night of the atrocity.

Many of the attackers had links to Belgium, where the plot was prepared, and Belgian counter-terror agencies have been accused of failing to prevent the massacres or catch those responsible.

Border controls were reintroduced between the two countries in February amid continued security concerns and concerns over a possible influx of asylum seekers evicted from the Jungle camp in Calais.