Ruthless smugglers swarm French beaches with migrants heading to UK in 'deadly' new tactic

People smugglers are employing a “deadly” new tactic to send desperate migrants across the Channel to Britain.

The gangs have begun “mobbing” French beaches with migrants in an attempt to overwhelm gendarmes and launch overcrowded boats into the water, it has been claimed.

But it is feared this latest technique is behind a spate of fatalities which saw seven people die last month. A total of 23 have died this year.

Experts believe smugglers are organising large numbers of desperate people to swoop on to beaches in timed operations to board inflatables – leaving it almost impossible for police to stop them all.

When boats are halted by French officers – using knives to puncture the flimsy vessels – migrants are then clambering on to other full ones causing dangerous overcrowding.

In April, seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi was one of five people who died when their dinghy was overloaded by a mob of men who ran from the beach to get on board off Calais. Sara was crushed to death at the bottom of the dinghy.

A source close to Border Force said: “It’s an orchestrated tactic by the people smugglers. The aim is to overwhelm police so some boats will get away. They try and launch numerous boats at once. The police will try to deflate the dinghies but can only do one at a time.

“If you’ve got 200 people in five boats and two get deflated by the police, then suddenly you’ve got 200 trying to get into three boats. It has certainly been the cause of death in the last few cases.”

In total, 16,356 people have arrived in 320 vessels this year, with 1,587 using 27 boats in July alone – an average of 58 per dinghy.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.

“The Government is taking steps to boost our border security. A new Border Security Command will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”

But Steve Smith, CEO of refugee charity Care4Calais said: “All this talk of ‘smashing the gangs’ and setting up a Border Security Command by the new Labour Government may be a change in terminology, but it will be no more effective.

“All the so-called deterrents have done to date is push crossings further along the French coast, where they are more dangerous, and where the risk of death is higher.

“The only way to stop crossings is to create safe routes for refugees to claim asylum.”