People smugglers offer cut-price trips for pregnant women
Callous gangs cut deals to cross the Channel at just £500 as a way of creating more business.
Callous people smugglers are offering pregnant women deals to cross the Channel at just £500 as a way of creating more business.
The sick package is aimed at encouraging women and children to join husbands on the dangerous crossings, which have rocketed in recent weeks. Whereas men are paying on average £3,000 for the treacherous trip, expectant mothers have revealed they pay just £500.
The tactic is designed to “pack the boats” and send migrants across as the most dangerous winter months as more unsettled weather approaches.
They are even being sent across without life jackets and instead being offered a piece of yellow rope to try to keep them safe.
Larger boats are now being used to transport people, with often 50 desperate migrants crammed on. A French prosecution source said: “This is exploitation of demand. It’s sick and twisted. The men, especially if they are with children, are more likely to cross with the mother.
“Offering them a discounted deal means there is a greater chance of the rest of them crossing. It packs the boats full. It’s incredibly dangerous.”
The Sunday Express witnessed crossings last weekend which saw two pregnant women on board. They were four months and six months gone and it is believed the father’s were on board. The source added: “They are not even being given the luxury of a life jacket. They have no morals.”
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migrant Watch UK, said: “This is a very worrying development. It shows what sort of people the smugglers are and what they are capable of. It’s brutal.
“Labour needs to get a grip, the figures
are increasing. They have no plan, just slogans. And it is not touching the surface at stopping
the problem.”
Last Saturday, when we witnessed two pregnant women crossing, a two-year-old boy and three adults from other crossings died.
The boy was trampled to death. Ninety migrants were on board the boat which had not long left France when the incident happened.
In all more than 900 crossed that day on 17 boats, the largest exodus of the year so far.
This year, the number of crossings stands at 26,612, higher than the same time last year, when it was 25,330.
