Migrants are being offered cheaper Channel crossings if they film them and promote the smugglers’ “services”. Crime gangs want asylum seekers to make journeys “look as safe and peaceful as possible”, immigration officials believe.
They are being encouraged to post clips and pictures on social media sites TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook in order to lure others into making the dangerous crossings. In return, they are given discounts. The cost of a crossing is typically between £1,500 and £6,000. But once discounts are applied, migrants are paying between £1,000 and £2,000.
The National Crime Agency has been working with social media companies to get video footage of the crossings removed, with more than 8,000 taken down last year alone. Paul Brisley, a senior manager in threat leadership at the National Crime Agency said: “Nearly 18,000 social media accounts, pages, and posts have been removed by [social media] companies since we started working with them in November 2021.
“The adverts show photographs of migrants in a boat, using videos of the migrants themselves as an endorsement of the service. [The smugglers] also offer discounts if migrants take a video of their journey, if it is successful, that they can then use to promote their service.”
Adverts on social media have become increasingly central to the activities of smugglers, providing a key mechanism through which the criminals attract business. Smugglers are also offering to ‘help’ with visa and asylum applications.
“The criminals offer migrant smuggling services, the supply of false documents and fraudulent assistance with visa applications,” said Brisley.
An immigration source said: “The videos are becoming more sophisticated. Social media is the marketplace for these journeys.
“The smugglers are getting more and more professional in their approach. There is also more competition than ever, so they have to stay one step ahead. They are making their adverts as professional as they can.
“That includes making crossings look as safe and peaceful as possible. But in reality, they are dangerous.”
The Daily Express has reported how migrants are being offered luggage services and discounted hotel rooms before crossing the English Channel.
There is also evidence of asylum seekers being kept in Belgium, in safe houses near Brussels, Antwerp, Gent and Bruges.
Migrants are also known to regularly stay in Germany, with homes identified in Bonn, Cologne, Frankfurt, Essen, Dusseldorf, Bochum and Dortmund.
They are given key pieces of information for their journeys and structures are put in place to ensure the smuggling business continues to run smoothly between crossings.
Researchers from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime said: “The smugglers will rent a property in these towns and fill it with migrants or use an intermediary who can provide a property.
“Some migrants, however, choose to stay closer to the coastal areas, often in hotels that are known for accommodating almost exclusively migrants, refugees and low-level smugglers during the Summer months, when weather conditions are more amenable for the crossing.
“These hotels are among the cheaper options on offer and in some cases reportedly provide additional services, such as shipping migrants’ luggage to the UK upon arrival.
“They also act as recruitment hubs for smugglers and some hotels reportedly offer discounts on accommodation for smugglers’ clients.”
A second migrant has died in just 24 hours after trying to cross the English Channel.
The French coastguard was alerted to “many” migrant boats attempting to leave the French coast overnight.
The rescue ship, Ridens, followed a dinghy packed with about 40 asylum seekers from a beach in Dunkirk to another pick-up point near Gravelines, where dozens more climbed on.
Emergency crews were then forced to rescue three people who had fallen into the water and 12 more who begged to be evacuated.
One of those lifted from the boat was unconscious, taking the death toll in the Channel this year to as many as nine, according to charities in France.
The boat then shockingly continued to Britain with around 80 people on board.
The use of “taxi-boats”, where smugglers quietly launch the boat in a canal or quieter part of the beach and then pick up larger numbers of migrants down the coastline, has surged in recent months and has been linked to a soaring death toll.
This tactic has prevented French police from blocking asylum seekers from climbing onto a boat because their laws claimed this could endanger lives.
Another migrant died on Wednesday after being rescued from the water when another dinghy got into difficulty off a French beach.
French authorities were informed a group of people, trying to board an inflatable for an attempt to cross the Strait of Dover, were in difficulty in the Equihen-Plage.
The boat had set sail an hour earlier from Hardelot-Plage 25 miles south of Calais.
A rescue operation was launched and two people were detected in the water and picked up by two boats.
One was suffering from hypothermia and the other was in cardio-respiratory arrest.
The two people were evacuated to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau vowed to “rethink our approach” after talks with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and directly intervene to stop boats leaving French waters.
The UK wants the French to act on the agreement to start turning boats around “as soon as possible”.
Mr Retailleau has agreed to the change in tactics because he believes it could counter the use of “taxi-boats”, where smugglers quietly launch the boat in a canal or quieter part of the beach and then pick up larger numbers of migrants down the coastline.
The Home Secretary said a new offence will be created to target those endangering another life during a small boat crossing.
This means anyone fighting with French police on the beaches, holding children over the edge of a small boat or “rushing” vessels as they try to launch could all be prosecuted, with a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.
This move is believed to have been significant in convincing the French to intercept boats in the water, it is understood.
Criminals caught selling or handling small boat parts, such as engines or lifejackets, could also be jailed for up to 14 years as the Home Office will make it “illegal to supply or handle items suspected of being for use by organised crime groups”.
Officials believe they could even extradite criminals operating in countries such as Turkey and prosecute them under this new law.
Russians, a German national, a Belgian and a Polish national were among 70 nationalities to cross in 2024.
We can disclose seven Russians arrived by small boat last year as well as one Belgian, one German, four Serbians, one Greek national and one Pole.
Alarmingly, four of these were all schoolgirls aged 17 or under. They all submitted asylum applications to join family members in the UK.
All but one of the Russians were adult males, this newspaper understands.
Analysis reveals the number of migrants arriving from Yemen increased sharply last year, after British and American forces launched airstrikes targeting Houthi fighters in the war-torn nation.
Before last year, a record 252 Yemeni people crossed the Channel – in 2020.
Houthi rebels – backed by Iran – attacked ships transiting through the Red Sea, prompting fears of an inflation crisis. British and American fighter jets and warships then destroyed dozens of targets across the country.
The wide variety of nationalities crossing the Channel will prompt renewed fears over Britain’s porous borders,