Smugglers are launching boats from more than 100 miles south of Calais after being forced to change their tactics in a bid to evade British-funded crackdowns on French beaches.
The “mega dinghy” that carried 230 people to the UK on Monday had started its voyage from Paluel, a commune in Normandy, and travelled for hours up the coast gradually collecting passengers who had waded out into the sea.
French groups who offer support to migrants say launches from the area are becoming increasingly frequent, and estimate that at least 3,000 people are still waiting for small boat crossings on the northern coast.
Shorts
Salomé Brun, of the Calais Appeal charity, told The i Paper that boats were being launched from increasingly further south, particularly around the port of Dieppe, because the coast around the previously popular crossing points in Dunkirk and Calais “is being increasingly securitised and monitored by law enforcement”.
