Migrant-smuggling gangs crackdown

CRIMINALS USING BOATS TARGETED

CRIMINALS smuggling migrants into the UK by boat will be targeted by a joint intelligence centre set up in France.

The UK-France Coordination and Information Centre was set up in Calais in a bid to tackle illegal attempts to cross the English Channel, the Home Office announced.

It comes after scores of migrants – mostly in inflatable dinghies – were rescued off the Kent coast in the last few weeks.

Around 100 people, the majority of whom claimed to be Iranian, have tried to cross the Channel from northern France this month, according to the BBC.

Two boats reached the UK undetected in the last few weeks, according to France’s maritime surveillance and law enforcement agency, it was reported.

But the Home Office has no knowledge of the incidents, a department spokesman said.

The Home Office would not be disclosing official figures on how many migrants have been rescued off the south coast in recent weeks, he added.

Border Force and Police Aux Frontieres will share intelligence around the clock at the centre, monitor cross-Channel traffic and tackle public disorder.

The operation – which launched last week – was set up under the UK’s Sandhurst Treaty with France which vows to tackle border security problems together.