6 days ago
Undercover BBC reporters paid £1,200 to people-smuggler
Undercover BBC reporters paid more than £1,200 to a violent people-smuggling gang as part of an investigation.
The broadcaster's Paris correspondent, who led the year-long investigation into the Channel trafficking operation, justified the payments as 'the only way' to gain access to the gang.
The BBC's investigation claimed to have infiltrated one of the major gangs operating on the north coast of France, helping tens of thousands of people cross the Channel to Britain each year.
It used undercover reporters and secret filming to show the gang's forest hideout outside the French port of Dunkirk as well as tracking their members across Europe.
As part of the investigation, the corporation's reporter paid for a place on a small boat to cross the Channel, and met a member of the gang's network at Birmingham New Street station to hand over the payment.
Handover filmed for report
In secretly recorded footage, a reporter can be seen handing over an envelope containing £900 in cash to a gang member with a glass eye who then walks away.
In the special report, which was aired on BBC News at 6pm on Tuesday, Andrew Hardy, the BBC's Paris correspondent, said: 'That's it. He's taken the money and left the station.
'You may well be asking why we would pay money to criminals. We believe it is the only way we can gain access to the gang and expose its network – not least its network here in the UK.'
Another payment of £348 was made to a gang member in Dunkirk.
The report aimed to highlight how people smuggling gangs were using sophisticated techniques to stay one step ahead of the authorities, changing names and phone numbers and having no social media profile.
The gang was linked by the BBC to 12 migrant crossing deaths.
The investigation by the BBC comes as the Government's 'one in, one out' deal to return migrants to France is set to begin.
The treaty was laid in Parliament on Tuesday, and will take effect from Wednesday, with detentions expected in the coming days.
The UK-France deal, which will also bring approved asylum seekers on a safe route to Britain, was agreed last month on the last day of Emmanuel Macron's state visit to the UK.
Some 25,436 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel this year – a record for this point in the year since data began being collected in 2018.
This is up 48 per cent on this point last year (17,170) and 70 per cent higher than at this stage in 2023 (14,994), according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data.
At least 10 people have died while attempting the journey this year, according to reports by the French and UK authorities, but there is no official record of fatalities in the Channel.
Ministers say they want to end the crossings because they 'threaten lives and undermine our border security'.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has said smuggling gangs have been allowed to take hold along the UK's borders over the last six years, making millions out of the dangerous journeys.
