Voice of Europe

The Romanian truck driver told police that he was fast asleep inside of his vehicle parked at a rest stop along the E40 motorway when he was woken up by “rustling” noises coming from his trailer. After he peaked outside to investigate, a dozen African migrants forced him to flee back inside of his vehicle after they attacked him with weapons, Belgian newspaper SCEPTR reports.

“They attacked him with spears, rods, and machetes,” police said.

Despite the violent nature of the situation, police could only send one patrol unit due to shortages in available personnel. By the time that they arrived at the scene of the crime, the gang of migrant men was nowhere to be seen.

“There was only one patrol available. A consequence of the budget cuts,” the police union spokesman said.

“Our colleagues – according to the booklet – actually had to wait for reinforcements that had to come from Anderlecht, some 65 kilometers from there. But because we could not let the driver continue to be molested, that one patrol went to the spot.”

“The staff shortages for the road police have reached 50 percent. We really fear that there must first be deaths before the agents will receive reinforcement to tackle this kind of dangerous phenomenon. The number of incidents can no longer be counted. It is also becoming increasingly violent,” a representative from the VSOA police union said in response to the situation.

Increasingly, European truck drivers are becoming the victims of aggressive transit migrants. Last week, a Belgian truck driver was shot at by asylum seekers in France after he had pulled over to spend the night at a highway rest stop. Luckily, the truck driver was not injured during the shooting.