Border Force search charity row boat mistaken for ‘illegal migrants’ by Rupert Lowe

A group of charity rowers were stopped and searched by a Border Force patrol boat after MP Rupert Lowe mistakenly identified them as “illegal immigrants” on social media. Footage shared by charity ROW4MD on Instagram on Thursday (8 August) shows the rowers saying goodbye to the coastguard after proving their boat was not carrying migrants. Sharing a photo of a boat off the Norfolk coast on Thursday evening, the independent MP announced he had “alerted authorities” to the vessel, posting: “If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported.” The boat was in fact crewed by a team of four individuals who are attempting to row from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for motor neurone disease.