Politics
Baby and toddlers among migrants arriving at Dover today – & smugglers use poor refugees as ‘decoys’ on Channel crossing
A BABY and four toddlers were among a group of up to 20 migrants who arrived in Dover early this morning after being rescued from the freezing Channel.
The group were brought into the port by the border force patrol ship HMC Valiant after braving the treacherous crossing in high winds.
Young children were among up to 20 migrants who arrived in Dover this morning[/caption]
The asylum seekers made the trip amid freezing and windy conditions[/caption]
They were brought ashore by a Coastguard patrol boat[/caption]
They were snapped leaving the vessel in bright orange life jackets at around 8.20am this morning.
And today it emerged smuggling gangs are now using poorer refugees as “decoys” so they can smuggle “premium” passengers across the Channel.
They are exploiting desperate asylum seekers by offering them lower rates to make the trip in cheap, flimsy crafts.
Those dinghies are launched first in the expectation they’ll quickly get into trouble and draw the attention of French patrol boats.
Then more sturdy vessels packed with “cash rich” passengers who have paid a higher fare set off, with a much higher chance of reaching Britain.
Yesterday some 40 migrants reached the UK in three small boats, taking the total number of arrivals this year past 1,500.
French authorities picked up a further 106 asylum seekers on Monday night and yesterday morning before they could reach British waters.
A source told The Times that smugglers have been buying up cheap dinghies in huge numbers so they can sell places on them to the poorest migrants.
British and French police officers are now trying to disrupt their operations by posing as traffickers and disrupting the supply of vessels.
People smugglers are using poorer migrants as ‘decoys’ on the Channel crossing[/caption]
Traffickers deliberately put those who have bought cheaper tickets in unseaworthy boats[/caption]
‘Premium’ tickets on dinghies with ‘top end’ engines go for up to £5,000[/caption]
The source said: “You get graduations of packages that are offered by the traffickers.
“You’ll get your criminal equivalent of business class.
“Then they’ll use people with less money as decoys when they do the big surges so they get some boats through regardless.
“So they might put 35 boats out from a range of 150 miles across northern France.
“Some of them will be with top-end engines and dinghies and some will be ones that break down as soon as they leave the shore.
“And so the authorities will be diverted to the ones that have broken down after leaving the shore, but they will still get 15, 20 boats through.”
Cheap tickets cost between £200 and £500 per person depending on demand and the supply of boats.
Meanwhile the “high end” packages on dinghies with a “top end” engine can go for up to £5,000 each.
British and French police are trying to disrupt the smuggling operations[/caption]
Undercover cops have infiltrated the supply chain for cheap dinghies[/caption]
The Home Office has vowed to fix Britain’s ‘broken’ asylum system[/caption]
Smugglers deliberately synchronise the sailings on days when conditions are calm, and so it’s easier to cross the Channel.
A source said: “There has been more of a focus on how you trace the suppliers of the vessels on the French side.
“There’s a lucrative trade in northern France in supplying these boats that are only being used for a single purpose – people trafficking.
“They are often legal trades but are being sold in the full knowledge that they are being used for illegal purposes.
“The police are looking at how they can infiltrate those networks and try to break up those supply chains.
“That is just one other way to make things a bit more difficult for the people traffickers and make it a less attractive option.”
British officers working on the case are believed to be from the National Crime Agency’s 150-strong crack anti-people trafficking unit.
Miles Bonfield, the NCA’s head of organised immigration crime operations, said: “We use all covert law enforcement techniques across the whole route, wherever we can, to penetrate organised crime groups and then disrupt them and take them apart.”
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In a statement a Home Office spokesman added: “People smugglers are putting lives at risk by facilitating these dangerous journeys.
“We are working closely with our partners in France to stop migrants leaving French beaches, and attempted crossings involving more than 100 people were stopped overnight and this morning.
“The government’s new plan for immigration will break the business model of people smugglers and overhaul the broken asylum system.”
