Smugglers run top-price ‘first-class’ boat service for migrants heading to UK

About 6,000 people intercepted in 2021 during small boat crossings from northern Europe

Migrants in an inflatable dinghy are rescued by French coast guards while trying to cross the Channel to Britain. AFP

Trafficking gangs are using poorer migrants as decoys during cross-Channel boat crossings to ensure higher-paying customers reach the UK, according to a report on Friday.

A French official told Britain’s i newspaper that gangs were launching flotillas of up to 40 boats at a time to ensure that at least some elude border patrol vessels on the waterway between northern Europe and Britain.

The unidentified official said migrants were split between seats on cheaper boats that cost about £4,000 ($5,502) – with little chance of making it across one of the world’s busiest waterways – and a "premium service" on higher-powered dinghies that costs £10,000.

About 6,000 people have attempted small boat crossings in 2021, more than double the number for the same period last year, after Covid-19 related travel restrictions and tighter security limited journeys in the backs of lorries. The numbers for the 12 months in 2020 were the highest on record.

The UK government says criminal gangs are behind the trafficking operations but has been frustrated by its attempts to tackle the numbers despite spending millions of pounds and striking a series of deals with France.

Home Secretary Priti Patel had said that the small boat crossings would become infrequent by spring 2020 but numbers have surged to their highest levels. Britain’s National Crime Agency, which has responsibility for tackling serious organised criminality, said last month that gangs were using larger boats to tap the lucrative potential for people trafficking.

Ms Patel is to bring forward new laws that will make it possible for asylum claims to be processed outside the UK, a move criticised by the United Nations. Her officials are reportedly talking with Denmark about proposals to share a processing centre in Denmark.

A Home Office representative said: "As organised criminal gangs adapt their approach, so will we. But to truly close this lethal route we must fix the broken system through our New Plan for Immigration, which will be firm on those who abuse the system and fair on those in genuine need of protection."