Six migrants caught in dinghy off Kent

SIX men suspected of being illegal immigrants have been caught in a dinghy in the English Channel.

Coastguards were alerted to the presence of the small vessel off the Kent coast in the early hours of yesterday morning. They alerted the Border Force cutter, HMC Valiant, which was able to intercept the boat before the men made it to the shore.

A search and rescue helicopter based at Lydd was also scrambled and took part in the operation.

Last night the men were being questioned by Border Force officers in Dover on suspicion of trying to enter the country illegally.

It is the latest in a string of incidents in which migrants were suspected of trying to enter Britain by crossing the Channel. It was recently revealed that people smugglers were making as much as £100,000 per journey, ferrying boat loads of migrants from the French coast into Britain.

Last month two men from Kent were jailed for more than four years after admitting trying to land 18 Albanians, including a woman and two children, at Dymchurch on the south coast.

The warmer weather is thought to have encouraged more migrants to make the treacherous journey across the world’s busiest shipping lane.

Last night Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: “This is just another example of why we urgently need a new Dover Patrol guarding the English Channel.”