A dinghy in the colours of the Kurdish flag was seen floating off the coast of Belgium.
Nigel Farage has raged over a new Channel migrant farce (Image: Getty)
A migrant boat styled to “match the Kurdish flag” left from Belgium as Channel crossings resumed today. A green, white and red dinghy, complete with the Sun in the middle, was seen floating off the coast of Belgium. Dozens of people waited on the boat as several hooded men tried to fire up the engine.
But the Belgian police officers watched on, refusing to intervene despite the vessel being within touching distance, unable to leave as the engine coughed and faltered. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “The boats are now launching from Belgium. The Belgian authorities, like the French, are just standing and watching.”
Mr Farage said: “This boat is even custom-made to match the Kurdish flag. The gangs are laughing at us.”
Iraqi-Kurdish gangs control migrant smuggling operations from Calais to Dunkirk, this newspaper understands, with territory split up according to where the criminals are from, such as Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Ranya and Sharazoor.
Criminals from Ranya are said to control a large part of the territory.
Almost 4,000 migrants are believed to be loitering in camps waiting to cross the Channel, according to Border chiefs.
Duncan Capps, the Border Security Commander, said the number of asylum seekers in Northern France is roughly double the typical size of the cohorts in two tent cities.
But prices for those hoping to reach Britain have fallen to as low as £840. It is believed to be one of the lowest prices on record.
Mr Capps: “I think the French estimate at the moment is that there are almost 3,800 people between those two camps.
“Previously it was broadly about 2,000 between them.
“So, our understanding now from our French partners we work with closely is almost double what we would normally expect.”
He added: “There are a lot of people in the camps at the moment, which I think is bad in one respect because a lot of people are there but it also represents the fact that the French are making it very difficult, particularly in the Dunkirk-Calais area, to get across.
“There is a moment with this from a criminal perspective where it stops being particularly viable.
“And part of our strategy is to drive it to a point where it is not worth them doing this because the cost of getting the boat, the engine, the risk of them being interdicted and jailed, is so much that actually they stop being in this business.”
Director general of operations at the National Crime Agency, Rob Jones, told the committee: “The fact that there are more migrants in northern France is not a good thing – it shows the intent is high but it shows they are struggling to make the crossing.”
Stressing that the people smugglers’ “business model is starting to shake”, he said: “It’s more likely than ever that you’re going to get arrested.
“It’s more likely than ever that your equipment is going to be seized,” adding that trying to cross the Channel was getting “riskier and riskier for everybody that’s involved.”
And prices for Channel migrant crossings have fallen to as low as £840, Mr Capps said.
Mr Jones said the unsafe dinghies used by traffickers typically cost them about £14,000.