20000401

134 Pak illegal

immigrants

picked up by

Spanish police

MADRID: The Spanish authorities have stepped up survelliance on all its borders after claiming that more than an hundred and thirty Pakistani immigrants tried to enter the country illegally.

According to a BBC report, police said the men are trying to take advantage of new laws which give foreign workers the same rights as Spanish ones.

Over the past two days, Spanish police have picked up 134 illegal immigrants, mostly from Pakistan, who crossed the country's northern border by bus and train from France. All were immediately sent back to France where the authorities are deciding what to do with them. Spanish police said the immigrants, all well dressed men carrying packages of personal belongings were picked up at border crossings and in cities such as Barcelona.

They said it is the first time that such a large number has tried to cross into north-eastern Spain. The Spanish authorities are more used to dealing with illegal immigrants from North Africa who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea in small wooden boats.

The Spanish authorities say they believe the illegal Pakistani immigrants were trying to take advantage of recent changes in Spanish law which grants foreign workers the same access as Spaniots to health education, and legal services. But they only apply to foreign workers who can prove they have been in Spain since last June.ÑPPI