The poorest and most desperate migrants in northern France are being used as "decoys" by people smugglers for other asylum seekers who are able to spend more to illegally travel to the UK, according to reports.
An insider familiar with undercover operations by French and British police in northern France told The Times that people smuggling gangs send a huge amount of the poorest migrants on cheap boats. According to the report, the cheaper boats are sent out before the more expensive vessels.
The cheaper boats are more likely to break down but act as decoys to distract the French navy patrols.
A source told The Times: “You get graduations of packages that are offered by the traffickers — you’ll get your criminal equivalent of business class.
“Then they’ll use people with less money as decoys when they do the big surges so they get some boats through regardless.
“So they might put 35 boats out from a range of 150 miles across northern France, and some of them will be with top-end engines and dinghies and some will be ones that break down as soon as they leave the shore.
“And so the authorities will be diverted to the ones that have broken down after leaving the shore, but they [the criminals] will still get 15, 20 boats through.”
According to The Times, the cheapest slots to cross the Channel are between £200 and £500.
The “high-end” packages for places on a vessel with a “top-end” engine can reportedly cost up to £5,000 per person.
On Tuesday, some 40 migrants reached the UK in small boats and were reportedly wearing face masks as they were brought ashore.
It brings this year’s total number of English Channel crossings close to the 1,500 mark.
The UK Government has set out new plans to assess people seeking protection as refugees based on how they arrive in the UK.
As part of the new plans, migrants entering the country illegally to claim asylum will not have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said the new system will be “fairer” but will also crackdown on people smuggling gangs.
SOURCE: Daily Express
