'Mafia' people smugglers force refugees into despicable act to pay for crossings

28 August 2023 , 06:00

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Refugees are being forced to drive the danger dinghies in return for Channel crossings (Image: GETTY)

Desperate refugees unable to afford to pay people smugglers for Channel crossings go for free, but only if they agree to drive the danger dinghies.

In a large camp in Dunkirk, that deathly responsibility falls on Africans, we were told. Sudanese teenagers we spoke to told us many of the Africans cannot afford the smugglers’ fees to make crossings, which can cost up to £5,000. Murtaza Malikzada, 27, from Afghanistan, told us: “The reality is that every single boat is driven by one of the African guys. They don’t have the money and so the smugglers tell them - ‘you can cross, but you’re the driver’.” For those who have paid, many of whom travel with families, they have a better chance of crossing within days of arriving in the camps.

Clothes at a beach in France where migrants have boarded inflatable dinghies (Philip Coburn)

And if one attempt fails, the money carries over to further attempts. Those who cannot afford it often have to wait longer for an opportunity to board for a cut price or for free. If drivers are caught by police they are also more likely to be arrested by French police. After the deaths of at least six people in an attempted crossing this month, four people were arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

A teenage boy from Sudan, aged 16 or 17, was one of those arrested, along with a Sudanese man in his 20s “suspected of having actively participated in the transport of passengers in dangerous conditions in exchange for a preferential rate for their own passage”, French authorities said. They can only go for free if they agree to drive the flimsy vessels, even if they have zero experience of operating a boat on the seas. And if they attempt to get on board as a passenger, they are met with a ruthless response by smugglers.

Daily Mirror reporter Matt Young at a beach in northern France (Philip Coburn)

We revealed on Saturday how one 27-year-old Sudanese man was recovering in hospital after being shot through his knee and foot for trying to board without paying. He was shot last Sunday in the Dunkirk camp and worked on by charity medics before being taken to hospital. It emerged last week that the number of people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim in the UK had risen to 175,457.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Of these, 80 per cent (139,961) have been waiting for more than six months. Refugee Action is calling on the Government to give leave to remain to people who have waited more than a year for a decision on their asylum claim. Rachel Goodall, Head of Asylum Services at Refugee Action, said: “The huge backlog in asylum decision making is a product of the Government’s hostile environment and it is causing immense suffering to refugees who just want to get on with their lives.

“It has forced thousands of people into inappropriate housing such as former hotels, prison ships and MOD sites from which only the private firms trousering millions in taxpayer-funded profits benefit. Ministers must stop their cruel obsession with deterrence and focus on workable and rights-based solutions. This includes giving leave to remain to anyone who has waited more than 12 months for a decision on their claim, scrapping its inadmissibility policy and allowing people to work while they wait.”

Matthew Young