AMSTERDAM - European police agency Europol said on Tuesday it had dismantled an Iraqi-run people smuggling ring that had transported hundreds of illegal immigrants from Belgium to Britain.

Belgian police arrested nine people on Tuesday, most of them from Iraq, in the smuggling crackdown which also turned up four illegal immigrants, Europol said.

The agency said immigrants had paid the criminal network 1,500 euros each to be concealed in the back of lorries with no guarantee of safe arrival in the UK.

They originated from countries such as Afghanistan, China, Iraq and Vietnam and travelled from Turkey to Belgium on a smuggling route that took them through Greece, Italy, and central Europe, Europol said.

The agency said they were brought at night to lorry parks in Belgium by an Indian smuggling network which then passed them on to the Iraqi network. The immigrants were then hidden on lorries without the drivers being aware.

Europol said the smugglers used aggressive tactics with the people they were transporting and did not hesitate to use 'extreme violence' when competing networks intruded on their turf.