UK to Send Police Officers to Calais to Combat Illegal Migrants

The new centre “will find and disrupt organised criminals who attempt to smuggle migrants illegally into northern France and across the Channel by ensuring intelligence and enforcement work is more joined up and collaborative”, the Home Office said.

The news comes as one Kent packer told FPJ he had seen a video, taken by one of his drivers, that appeared to show an English-speaking gang claiming responsibility for migrant stowaways.

The UK will pay £3.5m (five million euro) per year over two years towards the measures in the deal, and the Home Office said this was in addition to money previously pledged.

“And that is why our two countries will continue to work closely together to make sure the rest of the European, and the transit and source countries from which migrants are coming, are also playing their full part in solving this problem”.

British politician Keith Vaz, who chairs a body overseeing May’s ministry, also welcomed the Calais agreement but warned there was already evidence of greater “illegal activity” at other Channel ports in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Since early June, nine migrants died while trying to cross into English territory.

The migrant crisis could shift from Calais to other ports, Home Secretary Theresa May has said. Last month saw thousands of attempts on several days by migrants to break into the Eurotunnel undersea rail link, causing tunnel closures and traffic backlogs which stretched well into England.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on Thursday praised the new measures and urged more “legal avenues for people in need of protection to come to Europe”, particularly from war zones.

He said: “What’s unique about here is that there is no accommodation centre here so they are sleeping on the streets with very little support while they wait for their papers”.

After Calais, Cazeneuve will travel to Berlin to meet his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere for talks on Europe’s migration policies, it added.

Recent efforts, including British dog teams, had “stabilised” the numbers of people attempting to enter the UK through Calais.

Those trying to make the journey include some refugees and “many, many” economic migrants, Mrs May said.

Meanwhile, the number of migrants at the EU’s borders reached a record high of more than 107,000 in July.

France and the UK say they will sign a deal to tackle the crisis in Calais.

And the number of migrants arriving in debt-crippled Greece is accelerating dramatically, with almost 21,000 landing on the overstretched Greek islands last week alone, the United Nations said.

Britain will contribute €10mn ($11.2mn) to increased French humanitarian assistance and a fast-track asylum process for thousands of migrants camped in Calais in the hope of crossing the Channel, both countries said yesterday.