The Sarajevo route

One in ten 'irregular migrants' come from Sarajevo and the Balkans

In February, Home Secretary Jack Straw called for a common European policy on asylum seekers ahead of a two-day meeting with European Union justice and interior ministers in Stockholm.

Mr Straw told reporters: "We have to take steps to deal with the problem. There is going to be pressure from people who are living in countries where there are fewer human rights and also lower standards of living."

In the past seven years, what is called 'irregular migration' into the European Union has increased from 40,000 a year to half a million last year. One in ten of those came via Sarajevo and the Western Balkans.

The government says it wants to focus on what it calls the Sarajevo route. It plans to send extra police and immigration officers to Bosnia to help crack down on the gangs that make money out of smuggling people across borders.

PM's Andrew Bomford reported from Sarajevo.