People smuggling gangs ‘using mega-dinghies & doubling price for Channel crossings after running low on small boats’

GANGS are turning to new tactics to illegally smuggle people into the UK after running low on small boats. People smugglers are reportedly being forced to resort to “mega-dinghies” and have doubled the price for migrants to make the crossing. People smuggling gangs are turning to new tactics to illegal smuggle people across the English Channel to the UK Credit: LNP They have resorted to using ‘mega-dinghies’ and are hiking the prices to make the perilous journey Credit: The Times It comes after mind-blowing pictures showed 230 migrants crammed onto a mega-dinghy arriving in the UK last month. The average number of migrants per boat has increased tenfold since 2018 – as smuggling gangs continue to load more and more people on. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! A BBC investigation has revealed this is because smugglers are running short of small boats. Meanwhile, gangs are also hiking their prices to ferry migrants across the Channel, quoting around £1,700 per person – to be paid in cash. The average number of migrants per boat has increased tenfold since 2018 Credit: AFP More than 16,500 people have so far crossed the Channel this year Credit: PA The broadcaster reported one instance of how groups of migrants were collected along the coastline in northern France and jammed onto a single dingy. After a total of five collections across three hours, it successfully made the crossing after 82 people, including children, had boarded the vessel. Meanwhile, French police officers watched on as migrants who failed to make the trip trudged back to shore. One woman said: “We regularly see people on the beach attempting the crossing. Most read in The Sun “It feels like living in two parallel worlds that have nothing to do with each other; it’s really strange.” The migrants will then have to wait for their next window of opportunity with charity workers telling the BBC many will sleep close to the beach instead of camps to boost their chances. Two migrants, a Sudanese woman and an Afghan man, said they had attempted to make the crossing dozens of times. Meanwhile, two Egyptian migrants who had been trying to cross for months explained how French authorities stopped them from doing so. “The police stopped us from leaving and destroyed the boats,” one said. One said he was trying to reach the UK so he could work and obtain his legal papers. More than 16,513 people crossed the Channel between January 1 and September 1 this year, marking a 43 per cent decrease on the previous year. Last month, shocking pictures laid bare the ever-increasing size of the so-called “small boats” – as vessels are now equipped to bring as many as 230. The 49ft mega-dinghy that made the perilous journey in August carried more passengers than an average EasyJet flight. It is a stark comparison to the vessels that arrived on British shores a decade ago, which were often canoe-sized row boats. The average number of migrants per vessel has increased from seven to 67.6 over the past eight years. More than £1billion has now been handed to France to help stopping Channel crossings. An undercover reporter was able to cross the Channel in a small boat while posing as a migrant – and claims French police are giving smugglers free lifts back to the camps. Comment now