Migrant crisis finally easing! French Police stop 15,000 crossings so far this year

At the weekend, the total number of people arriving in the UK on small boats reached 21,000 for the year so far.

Although 872 people arrived on 15 small boats on Saturday, the overall number of Channel migrants is more than 20% down on the same period last year.

Maritime experts have told GB News that adverse weather conditions have played a pivotal role in the reduction in small boat crossings.

However, we can also now reveal that tougher French policing around some key migrant launch points, has significantly disrupted people smuggling activities.

One source, who is in touch with at least one people smuggling group, said he had been told that gangs were being forced to move much further south along the French coast to try to avoid enhanced police patrols.

The source said that in recent weeks, boats have pushed off from beaches as far south as The Somme, around 50 miles from Boulogne.

Until recently, the area around Boulogne was as far south as the criminals would go to avoid the patrols further north.

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A controversial half a billion pound funding package agreed by the UK Government has helped pay for an increase in French police beach patrols of around 40 per cent.

Most of the French police activity has been focused along the beaches around Calais and Dunkirk, where traditionally the vast majority of small boats have launched from in recent years.

Last year French police stopped 33,000 migrants from making the journey to the UK.

Despite the overall reduction in Channel migrants reaching Britain, French authorities have already stopped more than 15,000 people from crossing the Channel.

However, another source told GB News that there had been “a significant increase in French patrols along the key beaches in recent months”.

If police can get to the boats before they reach the water, they attempt to slash and puncture the rubber dinghies.

The source said: “There’s no doubt the French are making it more difficult for the gangs around Calais and Dunkirk and that’s forcing them further down the coast.

“We’ve known for months now that the gangs will push boats off further south, but we’ve never seen quite so many launch this far south on a daily basis.”

The source told us he’s in no doubt that the people smuggling operation is being “significantly impacted” by law enforcement activity on the French beaches.

He said this was making it much more difficult logistically for the criminal gangs to get boats and people to beaches much further away than their normal launch points.

“What we’ve not been seeing are the mass launches from those beaches around Calais and Dunkirk.

“Yes, they are still pushing off from those areas, but now they are having to spread out their launches along a much wider coastline to try to evade the patrols.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his government’s five key pledges. However, 27,000 Channel migrants have crossed since he became Prime Minister.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We work incredibly closely with our French partners to stop the boats and tackle the criminal gangs behind these deadly crossings. This extends to law enforcement disruptions before they even reach the beaches.

“This year we agreed to go even further, including by more than doubling the number of personnel in Northern France, establishing a 24/7 coordination centre, more technology and a wide range of other measures.

“We welcome the results of our co-operation to date and will continue to work jointly with the French authorities to detect and disrupt crossing attempts before they leave French beaches and further in-land.”