Latest news with #SmallBoatCrossings
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Little Boats Crackdown! Members of criminal gangs in Britain who advertise migrant Channel crossings online could face 'five years in jail'
Criminal gangs who advertise small boat crossings across the English Channel or fake passports online could spend up to five years behind bars under new legislation. Ministers are looking to create a new offence under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament in an attempt to crackdown on criminal gangs promoting Channel crossings on the Internet, The Mirror reports. Under the proposed law, offenders could receive a prison sentence of up to five years and a hefty fine. Assisting illegal migration is already a crime, but officials hope the changes will give more powers to police to disrupt criminal gangs. Around 80 percent of migrants arriving to the UK by small boats say they used social media to find someone associated with a criminal gang who could smuggle them into the country. According to the Home Office, many of those who make the perilous crossings across the Channel are sold a 'false narrative' about their ability to live and work in the UK. 'Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral,' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said. 'These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them – wherever they operate.' Ministers are looking to create a new offence under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament The potential new measure comes the Government announced last week that members of people-smuggling gangs who send migrants across the Channel in flimsy boars will face financial sanctions. The new powers target smugglers and those who supply them with money and equipment. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the measures are 'the world's first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers.' Those in breach of the rules can have UK assets seized, be barred from using British banks and be banned from entering Britain. The government said the new rules are authorised by existing sanctions legislation. British lawmakers won't get a chance to debate them until they return from a summer break in September. Keir Starmer has pledged to stop criminal gangs sending thousands of migrants each year on dangerous journeys across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. A group of migrants run from the beach into the water to reach an inflatable dinghy to leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain as tougher migration controls were announced, at the beach of Petit-Fort-Philippe in Gravelines, near Calais, France, July 17, A migrant tries to board a smuggler's inflatable dinghy in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on July 29, 2025 The Prime Minister has said the crime gangs are a threat to global security and should be treated like terror networks. Some 37,000 people crossed the channel in 2024, and more than 22,000 so far in 2025 - an increase of about 50 percent from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died attempting the journey.
The Sun
30-07-2025
- The Sun
Border Force bring more Channel migrants ashore as Brit officers seize new dinghies on way to people smugglers
MORE Channel migrants are brought ashore by Border Force yesterday — as Brit officers seized new dinghies on their way to people smugglers. The National Crime Agency and local authorities stopped a lorry at Bulgaria's Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint with Turkey and Greece. 2 On board were 25, eight-metre small boats able to ferry up to 60 migrants to Britain. Officers believe they were destined for northern France. The NCA's Jacque Beer said: 'This was a significant seizure, with these vessels destined for use by the organised crime groups running small boat crossings from France to the UK. 'They are of the type typically used in highly dangerous and frequently deadly journeys across the English Channel, and are completely ill-suited for use at sea. 'Taking them out before they could reach the shores of northern France means we have not only prevented crossings from happening and lives being put at risk, but also put a dent in the profits of the people smugglers. 'The NCA continues to work with a number of international partners to disrupt the supply of these vessels, and other maritime equipment such as engines.' The seizure is the biggest detection of small boats this year in Europe. Earlier this year a similar raid in Germany stopped small boats as they approached the Dutch border. Around 500 migrants are still thought to have made the crossing yesterday, many brought in to Dover. The total for the year is predicted to hit 25,000 in the coming days.
