Interior minister Jack Straw said on Thursday he had received reports of an exodus of Roma from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and warned them they would not be welcome if they sought asylum in Britain. "We have reports that Czech and Slovak Roma are on the move in Eastern Europe," Straw said in a statement. "Britain is taking a firm line and will not be a soft touch for illegal immigrants with no right to asylum. My message is 'Do not think you will get through'."

A spokesman in Home Secretary Straw's department declined to give details of the reported Roma movements. Asked how many people are involved, he said merely that Straw would not have made his statement if the number was small.

A report in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper on March 29 said hundreds of Roma families were headed for Britain from the Czech Republic following some 30 racially motivated murders there carried out by what it called "skinheads."

Last November authorities in the southern English port of Dover protested at an influx of Roma claiming political asylum. They said they did not have the facilities to deal with them.

They were said to have been attracted to Britain by a television programme which claimed the country had generous welfare benefits for arrivals.

Straw said over the past six months, more than 600 asylum applicants from the Czech Republic and Slovakia had had their claims rejected and been sent back.

"Any more who come illegally are unlikely to succeed," he said.

Straw announced on Wednesday that the Eurostar company which runs trains through the Channel Tunnel would risk fines of 2,000 pounds ($3,340) for every passenger it carried without proper papers.

The move was taken to deal with what he believes is a steady flow of illegal migrants taking trains from Brussels to London.