Shocking moment dinghy packed with migrants sets off as French police watch on
More than a dozen officers - wearing armour and carrying batons - watched on as the dinghy struggled out into the Channel.
This is the shocking moment French police once again let dozens of migrants risk their lives crossing the Channel in a dangerously flimsy dinghy.
More than a dozen officers – wearing armour and carrying batons – failed to stop it launching and watched as the boat struggled out into the Channel.
Some asylum seekers even waded out into the water after the vessel.
Dozens of young men dangled their feet over the sides of the boat, with more sitting in the middle on a piece of plywood holding the boat together.
A hooded man, in an apparent bid to conceal his identity, steered the boat.
New intelligence has suggested that the Kurdish smuggling gangs controlling many of the crossings and beaches in northern France try and find a migrant with experience of piloting boats across the Mediterranean – in exchange for a free journey.
And the criminals are ordering asylum seekers to delete photos of the camps in northern France so that investigators cannot gain vital clues and intelligence.
Experts from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said: “They are asked by the smugglers to delete photos and videos of the camp by smugglers, so that British police are unable to accrue evidence; sometimes they are also asked to throw their phones overboard if there is a rescue operation at sea.
“Smugglers used to test the engines out of the water, which damages the cooling system, making it more likely that the engine will malfunction at sea.
“According to Albanian migrants, the captains are usually Kurdish migrants or somebody who can understand the smugglers’ explanation of how to use the boat and its equipment.
“However, according to smugglers, Africans with experience of piloting boats are generally preferred.
“These are recruited if they can provide video proof that they have piloted a boat between Libya and Italy or Morocco and Spain; in return, their passage is free.
“The app Maps.Me, which works offline, is used to navigate on the boat or to reach the dunes.”
The fragmented nature of the smuggling network also contributes to the overcrowding of boats, experts believe.
The GIATOC warned: “The responsibility for such overloading lies with intermediaries hired by the smugglers, not the smugglers themselves.
“Some intermediaries, who are usually Afghan or African, will add extra passengers to the boats and pocket the surplus fare.
“As this often leads to migrant deaths, the runners often face severe repercussions for such activity.”
Some 419 asylum seekers crossed the Channel on Tuesday in just six boats, despite wet and windy weather creating dangerous conditions.
This raises the alarming prospect that the smugglers are packing around 70 migrants in some of the dinghies.
Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: "Scrapping Rwanda without a plan was sheer stupidity. Open Season has begun. More and more migrants crammed into boats.
"Smash the gangs"? Sir Keir has surrendered to the people smugglers."
Border Force sources have long warned about the increasing size of the boats being used by smugglers to cross the Channel. The criminals have also begun using "taxi boats", picking migrants up off the beach.
Labour has vowed to “smash the gangs” and set up a Border Security Command to hunt down the smugglers.
This will be partly funded by Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to axe the Rwanda deportation scheme.
More British investigators and spies will be based in Europe to catch the criminals, it is understood.
Sources have told the Daily Express that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s team is hoping MI5 intelligence officers will treat people smugglers like foreign spies and terrorists.
This could see them bug smugglers' phones and trace their movements, this newspaper understands.
Ms Cooper has ordered a review into how the gangs operate because she believes there are more opportunities to disrupt the gangs.
Intelligence has been gathered on how the gangs operate, where they are based, the routes they take and how they communicate with migrants hoping to cross the Channel.
And utilising this information could give MI5 and the National Crime Agency more opportunities to infiltrate or disrupt the gangs before they reach the French coast.
Counter-terror powers will also be extended to cover organised immigration crime, including the power to search people suspected of being involved in people smuggling, close bank accounts, restrict their travel and trace their movements before an offence has taken place.
New legislation is being drawn up, the Home Office confirmed on Sunday night.