Inside Albanian people smuggling network driving increase in crossings
Inside Albanian people smuggling network driving surge in asylum seekers: How migrants book cheap B&Bs in Dunkirk to await £4,300 crossing into UK after they are recruited by ‘middle men’ in Albania and handed over to Kurdish gangs in charge of boats
- Probe built up picture of how Albanians reach UK after speaking to official sources and migrants themselves
- Migrants are recruited by ‘middle men’ in Albania using social media then passed to Kurdish gangs in France
- Migrants book cheap B&Bs in Dunkirk while waiting for good conditions before being loaded onto dinghies
The surge in Albanian migration to the UK is being driven by a ‘very successful’ people smuggling network that sees migrants passed from ‘middle men’ in Albania to Kurdish gangs in France, an investigation has found.
Migrants who have flown to northern France from Albania book cheap B&Bs in Dunkirk while they wait for good conditions to make the crossing, it is claimed.
As they board rubber dinghies, gangsters take photos of them to ensure they pay the £4,300 fee, reported The Times.
The newspaper spoke to official sources and the migrants themselves in order to build a picture of how Albanians are reaching the UK.
More than 12,000 Albanians have arrived in the UK so far this year – around 10,000 of whom are understood to be young single men.
Their journey often begins in poorer areas like the city of Kukes in the north east of the country, where up to a third of people aged 16 to 29 are unemployed.
Smugglers advertise their services on social media, particularly TikTok, and once they have recruited someone they move them along the chain to a compatriot based in northern France.
At this point, they will be passed on to Kurdish gangsters who operate the crossings to the UK.
Albanians have enjoyed visa-free travel with the EU since 2010, allowing most migrants to reach northern France on flights via cities like Barcelona and Brussels.
Once they’ve arrived near the Channel coast, most book cheap B&Bs while the poorest join asylum seekers from other countries in camps outside Calais.
Here, their contact details are passed onto Kurdish gangs, who provide details of when and where to meet for their crossings via the encrypted WhatsApp or Telegram apps.
Migrants or their families either pay the people smuggler who originally recruited them from the off, or the middle man in northern France.
The middle men usually received a commission of between £1,000 to £2,000, some of which also goes to their accomplices in Albania.
TikTok videos show dozens of Albanian migrants making the crossing, with this group unfurling the nation’s flag on the boat
Many migrants come from Kukes (pictured), which is one of the poorest regions in Albania
A migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, last month onboard the Ramsgate Lifeboat
Revealed: The slick TikTok videos used by people smugglers bringing Albanians into UK
By Nick Pisa for MailOnline
These are the slick TikTok videos used by ruthless people smugglers urging Albanians to cross the Channel to Britain.
With an accompanying pulsing soundtrack of Albanian rap music the footages advertise cut price deals for men, women and even children travelling from France.
Prices start from £3,000 for adults and £2,500 for children and all guarantee ‘100 per cent safe passage’ using top of the range rigid inflatable boats with life jackets provided.
Despite attempts to clamp down on crossings numbers are continuing to surge thanks to the glossy adverts posted on TikTok and on Albanian social media.
Even with the approach of winter and roughs seas and gale force winds the videos boast trips will ‘continue all year round whatever the weather’.
Albanians interested in making the journey across the Channel – which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world – are urged to direct message the smugglers for details on the next crossings.
Working in conjunction with Kurdish gangs, Albanians are publicising the routes and taking money from would be travellers – while offering those that don’t have the cash the option of working for criminal gangs in the UK to pay the money back.
To ensure any outstanding funds are paid, the Kurdish gangs take photos of each migrant and their passports. Migrants said anyone who crosses the people smugglers risks being hunted down and killed in the UK.
Another source in France said: “It’s a very successful model. We haven’t seen any fights, or murdering between Albanian and Kurds.”
Ministers have repeatedly vowed to crack down on young male migrants from Albania, with immigration minister Robert Jenrick vowing the Government would work on a ‘fast-track’ system to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.
The plans also include reforms to the Modern Slavery Act. Mr Jenrick told the Telegraph that Albanians were ‘abusing’ the act and delaying deportation attempts.
Home Office figures show the number of Albanian migrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery is set to double this year to 5,000.
Other proposals could see Albanians deported before they can appeal against rejected asylum claims, put on immigration bail or tagged to prevent them absconding.
Mr Jenrick said many of those arriving from Albania as ‘young males who are fit, healthy, prosperous enough to pay the criminal gangs to get here’.
Fuelling the illegal trade is the perception of the UK as a ‘soft target’ compared to other wealthy European nations, officials say.
In France, most asylum claims from Albanians are rejected within days or weeks, while anyone appealing their case is sent back to Albania to await the outcome of their appeal there.
Didier Leschi, managing director of the French Office of Immigration and Integration, said France has put in place a fast-track procedure to deal with Albanian asylum claims in a matter of days or weeks.
The vast majority are rejected, and anyone who appeals has to await the outcome in Albania rather than staying in France.
Albania’s prime minister has previously accused the government of ‘discriminating’ against his people and said it was ‘insane’ to blame his country for the UK’s immigration and crime woes.
Some 39,913 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel this year, provisional figures show. The Ministry of Defence said 46 people arrived in one boat on Monday.
Prices start from £3,000 for adults and £2,500 for children and all guarantee ‘100 per cent safe passage’ using top of the range rigid inflatable boats with life jackets provided
Despite attempts to clamp down on crossings numbers are continuing to surge thanks to the glossy adverts posted on TikTok and on Albanian social media. Even with the approach of winter and roughs seas and gale force winds the videos boast trips will ‘continue all year round whatever the weather’
British officials will be deployed in France to fight migrant crisis after Rishi Sunak secures landmark deal with Emmanuel Macron
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Editor for the Daily Mail and Greg Heffer, Political Correspondent for MailOnline
British immigration officers will be deployed to tackle the Channel crisis in French territory for the first time as part of a landmark deal, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The crucial agreement will allow UK Border Force officers into French control centres to help combat small-boat departures across the Channel.
The deal will also see the largest ever sum handed by the UK taxpayer to France – thought to be around £80million – for escalated anti-dinghy patrols.
Rishi Sunak indicated yesterday that an agreement was imminent after his first meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron.
The Prime Minister said he had ‘renewed confidence and optimism’ that deals could be struck with Paris and other European partners to combat illegal immigration.
But critics warned that any new deal would have to deliver after years of broken promises.
Rishi Sunak indicated yesterday that an agreement was imminent after his first meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron (pictured together)
The Prime Minister said he had ‘renewed confidence and optimism’ that deals could be struck with Paris and other European partners to combat illegal immigration
Six weeks ago the Mail revealed that a previous attempt at an accord with France had been torpedoed by Liz Truss’s remarks about Mr Macron.
Boris Johnson’s government had been poised to announce a ‘ground-breaking’ agreement – but Miss Truss unintentionally scuppered the deal when she said the ‘jury is out’ on whether Mr Macron was a ‘friend or foe’.
Mr Macron’s government pulled out of the Channel negotiations a few days later, even though an agreement was on the cusp of being signed and sealed.
Last night negotiations were back on track as Downing Street confirmed talks were nearing a conclusion following a meeting between the two leaders at the Cop27 summit.
‘A deal is being discussed and I think is in its final stages,’ the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
After meeting Mr Macron in Egypt yesterday, Mr Sunak said: ‘There is an opportunity for us to work closely not just with the French but with other countries as well.
‘I’m actually leaving this with renewed confidence and optimism that [by] working together with our European partners, we can make a difference, grip this challenge of illegal migration and stop people coming illegally.’
The PM refused to put a timescale on when the Channel migrant crisis might ease, although he promised to take new action as soon as possible.
‘We all want this situation to resolve itself as quickly as possible,’ he said.
‘I also want to be honest with people it’s a complex issue. It’s not one simple solution that’s going to solve it overnight, I wouldn’t be honest if I said there was.
Officials are understood to be hammering out final details, with a formal announcement expected next week.
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness beach by the Dungeness lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel last month
The Prime Minister said he had ‘renewed confidence and optimism’ that deals could be struck with Paris and other European partners to combat illegal immigration. Pictured: a group of men at Manston yesterday
Challenged as to whether Mrs Braverman had made the situation worse – amid chaotic overcrowding at the Manston site – Mr Sunak insisted the Home Secretary was at the forefront of efforts to reduce the number of asylum seekers at the centre.
‘The Home Secretary is actually at the moment making sure we reduce numbers at Manston and we’re making very good progress on that to return that operation to where we would all like to see it,’ he added.
‘But, in the long term, to make sure we don’t have a situation like we saw at Manston happening again, we need to reduce the number of people coming here illegally.
‘That’s going to require the Home Secretary and others to work constructively with partners around Europe, to stop people coming in the first place.
‘There’s a range of things we need to do to make that a reality, that’s what the Home Secretary is focused on and that’s what I’m focused on as well.’
Soon after Mr Sunak’s talks with Mr Macron, immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the House of Commons that the Manston site was now back below capacity after more than 2,000 people were moved to other accommodation.
‘I can tell the House that as of 8am this morning, the population at the Manston facility was back below 1,600,’ he said.
‘This is a significant reduction from this point last week, with over 2,300 people being placed in onward accommodation.’
Almost 40,000 migrants have arrived in Britain in small boats so far this year – compared with a then record 28,500 in the whole of 2021
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the House of Commons the Manston site was now back below capacity after more than 2,000 people were moved to other accommodation
Ahead of his meeting with Mr Macron, Mr Sunak revealed he had spent more time working on the Channel migrant crisis than anything else other than his Autumn budget in recent days.
The PM told The Sun: ‘It’s very important to me, I want to make sure that we absolutely tackle this problem.
‘Prime ministers can only spend their personal time on a handful of really key priorities, this for me is absolutely one of those.
‘I have spent more time working on that in the last few days than anything else other than the Autumn Statement.’
Mr Sunak also told the newspaper that Britons should ‘feel good about providing sanctuary to those who really need it’.
Although British border guards have been deployed in France for almost 20 years to conduct passport checks, the new deal will mark a significant breakthrough.
It will allow UK Border Force officers to work inside French control rooms which co-ordinate beach searches for people trafficking gangs and dinghy launches.
The cash boost is also expected to increase the number of beach patrols which currently number 800 a day.
Almost 40,000 migrants have arrived in Britain in small boats so far this year – compared with a then record 28,500 in the whole of 2021.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘This represents a glimmer of hope but really should have been done four years ago.
‘This joint working will have to be properly implemented if it is to make a difference. I can’t help being a wee bit sceptical about whether it can solve this problem.’
There has recently been overcrowding at the Manston site, which has prompted severe criticism of Home Secretary Suella Braverman
Business Secretary Grant Shapps – who was briefly home secretary when Mrs Braverman resigned last month before being reappointed by Mr Sunak six days later – this morning claimed Mr Sunak had ‘hit it off well’ with Mr Macron since entering No10.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I was just for one week home secretary and I saw the extent of the problems with people being illegally transported across the Channel in dangerous conditions.
‘The more that we can work with our partners in France to stop people from leaving those shores in the first place, the better.
‘One of the figures that’s really stuck out to me whilst I was in the Home Office as home secretary was the French had already stopped 29,000 people leaving their shores this year.
‘If we can improve that, if we can stop more people from leaving, working with the French, then clearly that will relieve the pressure on our shores in Kent and elsewhere.
‘And so I think that’s what the PM’s looking for in his discussions with President Macron and I think the two of them have hit if off well and I hope to see more progress there.’
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has revived his plan for a British Bill of Rights – which was scrapped by former PM Liz Truss – to reduce the influence of the European Convention of Human Rights.
The Strasbourg court has put a temporary block on the Government’s £120m plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, which ministers have claimed could reduce the number of Channel crossings.
Manston unit is close to breaking law by becoming an ‘unofficial detention centre’, Grant Shapps warns
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Editor for the Daily Mail
A processing base for Channel migrants risked becoming an ‘unofficial detention centre’, the Business Secretary admitted yesterday.
The remarks by Grant Shapps – who was fleetingly in charge of the Home Office last month – revealed for the first time the severity of government concerns about conditions at Manston in Kent.
He told Sky News: ‘We’ve got to be careful not to break the law ourselves by detaining people… it’s not a detention centre, but a processing centre at Manston.
‘The advice I had was very clear – that we were in danger of doing that if we weren’t acting.’
Mr Shapps later told the BBC: ‘I was very keen to ensure that we… maintained ourselves within the law, had some very clear advice on that and made a number of changes – both moving people out but also the running of the centre itself to ensure that it wasn’t a detention centre.
‘The Home Secretary [Suella Braverman] subsequently has continued to make the same changes to make sure that those numbers are brought down.’
Concerns emerged about Manston two weeks ago when it was housing 4,000 migrants – including some who had been there for weeks despite it being designed as a holding facility for one or two days.
Numbers have now fallen closer to the normal 1,600 capacity, mainly due to a week with no arrivals thanks to poor sea conditions.
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