Refugees vanish from detention centre

Six asylum seekers have absconded from a brand new detention centre which was opened earlier this month.

The six, all Romanian men, left the grounds at the former Oakington army barracks near Cambridge late on Monday night, a Home Office spokesman said.

The men arrived in Dover, Kent, at the weekend and were having their applications for political asylum processed when they disappeared.

One had already been granted temporary permission to stay.

A Cambridgeshire police spokeswoman said they had been notified of the situation but no search had been mounted because the refugees were not classed as criminals.

Human rights concerns

A Home Office spokesman said: "There is no reason to believe that they pose any kind of danger to anyone, although they can now be arrested as absconders.

"Immigration officers will be making checks with any contact addresses we have in Britain and an inquiry is underway to find out how they escaped."

When it was unveiled, the Home Office said Oakington would be able to deal with 13,000 asylum seekers a year and they promised to decide each application within a week.

But refugee groups opposed the centre on human rights grounds, saying it was wrong to detain a person before their case had been heard.

Apart from the absconders, 32 people are at the centre having their claims processed.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Although this is a secure centre, it is not a secure as a detention centre because it is designed as a reception centre.

"People are taken to Oakington are ones who we believe will co-operate with the process."

'Not actively searching'

Security at the base is the responsibility of Group 4 but a Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online: "They won't go outside the compound to search for absconders."

He admitted the police would not be "actively" looking for the six but said: "If they come to light they will be detained and handed over to the Immigration Service."

But he said: "If they keep their heads down they may be difficult to find."

He said their applications for asylum would continue to be "fast-tracked" based on the information which was already available and added: "Just because they have absconded does not mean their applications will immediately be refused."