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Courtesy of the Times.
The authorities have been told to “get a grip” after dozens of migrants crossed the Channel over Christmas. Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, said that the Home Office and National Crime Agency did not appear to be on top of the problem. On Christmas Day 40 migrants were rescued in the Channel as they tried to reach Britain and three more were found yesterday. A further five people turned up at Dover police station on Christmas Day saying that they were Iranian and had arrived by boat. An abandoned craft was discovered later.
Mr Elphicke said: “With well over 100 migrants having broken into Britain in recent weeks the [Home Office and National Crime Agency] need urgently to explain what they are doing to put a stop to these crossings. This is an incredibly dangerous crossing to make in the middle of winter. Our volunteer lifeboat crews are being called out nearly every day. The British and French authorities must get a grip and find and stop the traffickers . . . before there is a tragedy.” Crews from Britain and France have rescued more than 40 migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach the UK in six small boats over two days. Five dinghies carrying people from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan were spotted on Christmas Day. Yesterday a boat carrying three migrants, who said that they were Iranian, was intercepted by a French boat.
They had been spotted on a small semi-rigid boat about ten miles off the coast of France and taken ashore at Dover, where they were examined by medical staff and interviewed by immigration officials.
“The evidence shows there is organised criminal gang activity behind illegal migration attempts by small boats across the Channel,” a Home Office spokesman said. “We are working closely with the French and law enforcement partners to target these gangs, who exploit vulnerable people and put lives at risk.” All 43 people, including two children, are now in Britain, “where they will be handed over to the relevant partner emergency services or authorities”. A girl was one of eight passengers on a boat that was found at 2.40am on Christmas Day near Folkestone. Other rescues involved a boat of nine migrants whose engine failed, two people who tried to row across the Channel, and a dinghy carrying 12 people and a child. More than 150 people have been brought ashore since the start of last month, of whom 86 were discovered in a two-week period.
Smugglers charge migrants more than £10,000 each to cross the Channel in rubber dinghies. Those making the journey have to contend with poor weather and rough seas as well as the dangers of traversing the world's busiest shipping lane. The police have compared the voyage to trying to “cross the M25 at rush hour on foot”. Last month a joint Franco-British intelligence centre in Calais began operations to stop people smugglers. The recent rise in crossings is thought by some to be a result of unseasonably warm weather and calmer seas, although French prosecutors say that gangs are telling migrants to cross now as security will be tougher after Brexit.