There is increasing evidence that British people smugglers are operating in the migrant camps around the north French port of Calais.
In an investigation, Sky News found up to 13 cars with British number plates parked alongside tents and shelters at a camp in the Grande Synthe area.
Sameer Suhail, a migrant from Afghanistan, said that he used to stay at one of the Calais camps and added that many people there pay traffickers to help them reach the UK. Some even pay in pounds sterling.
Suhail said: “Some give in euros but most of the people, some of my friends also, they pay in English pounds.
“Sometimes they pay cash, for example they give cash money and sometimes they pay by bank, they have a statement of the bank.”
The smugglers appear to be British or Belgian, he added, and they seem to rotate.
A local charity worker, Cecile, also told the network that she and her colleagues refused to enter the site at Grande Synthe at night.
“After a certain hour we do not go into the camp,” she said. “After 5pm there is a meeting between smugglers and migrants to find out who’s going to go tonight.
“We don’t have anything to do with their programmes. And we’d rather not know … that’s why the charity lasts because we only stick to what we are paid to do.”
Meanwhile, Sky also found a secret garage near the town of Dunkirk that houses a number of large vehicles, all of them with British registrations.
The local mayor, Franck Dhersin, said that he had to use health and safety laws to seize the vehicles due to the bureaucracy involved in proving they are being used by people smugglers.
“Legally it’s very difficult because judges ask for a lot of proof so it’s very difficult … you need to follow the car, you need to listen to telephones and it takes six to eight months to have enough proof,” he said.
“My idea is the best way not to stop it, because it’s impossible to stop this trafficking, but to get the smugglers in trouble.”
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