Refugees are reportedly using bicycles to cross the Arctic border into Norway to exploit a legal loophole in the country's immigration controls.

According to the Local, it is illegal for refugees to cross the border either by foot or in someone else's car if the driver does not have the correct papers.

As a result, it reports, more than 100 refugees thought to be from Syria and the Mediterranean who have made their way towards the border through Russia have started using bikes instead.

Police Chief Inspector Goeran Stenseth said 151 people had crossed this year near the northeastern Norwegian town of Kirkenes, 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) northeast of Oslo, most of them during July and August.

He said migrants arrive in motor vehicles but that some had resorted to crossing by bicycle because the Storskog border post is not open to pedestrians in line with a Norwegian-Russian border agreement.

Mr Stenseth said police were investigating whether the traffic was organised - and that they planned to take up the issue with Russian border officials.

It comes just two months after a senior member of the ruling Progress Party said failed asylum seekers should be jailed.

In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais Getty Images In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes block migrants along a road to prevent them access to train tracks which lead to the Channel Tunnel in Frethun, near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Policemen try to prevent migrants from reaching the Channel Tunnel operated by Eurotunnel in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A policeman faces migrants trying to reach the Channel Tunnel operated by Eurotunnel in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A policeman tries to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants who managed to pass the police block on the Eurotunnel site climb over a fence to make their way towards the boarding docks in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants are seen near a Channel Tunnel train in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants trying to reach the Channel Tunnel run past policemen in Coquelles near Calaisa In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants step over the fence as they try to catch a train to reach England, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants warm themselves with a fire as they attempt to access the Channel Tunnel, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis An Afghan flag flies above makeshift shelters at a site dubbed the "new jungle", where migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain have camped out around the northern French port of Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants build a makeshift shelter around the northern French port of Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants build a makeshift shelter In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants walk in a makeshift camp in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A driver climbs on his truck as he waits to cross the English channel, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants walk along the roadside while a French policeman secures the area as lorries queue in Calais

Anders Anundsen said in an interview with state broadcaster NRK: “What we are sending out for consultation now is a proposal that the cases of asylum seekers who deliver manifestly unfounded asylum applications can be processed with an expeditious procedure lasting two days, and that they also be detained pending proceedings.”

Anderson, whose party is the junior member of a minority right-wing government led by Erna Solberg’s Conservative party since 2013, suggested the majority of asylum seekers “disappear” as soon as they arrive in the country.

Back in October 2013, Ms Solberg was forced to enter into a coalition with the right wing anti-immigration Progess Party after they won 41 seats in the Norwegian parliamentary elections.

Norway's Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, went into coalition with an anti-immigration party back in October 2013 (Getty Images)

Despite this, Norwegians appear to be becoming more tolerant of migration with 60 per cent of the population saying the EU should help migrants fleeing war torn countries - compared with just 50 per cent of the UK and 39 per cent of Finland.