Chaos as UK boat rescues migrants in French water as new figures suggest Albanian migrants could be exploiting modern-day slavery laws to avoid deportation
- An RNLI boat was picked up on the wrong side of the France/UK Sea border
- They were rescuing migrants when radar picked them up at 8am yesterday
- Record 25,000 migrants are have crossed the Channel in small boats this year
- Stats show an almost 320 per cent rise in migrants from Albania in 10 years
Chaos ramped up in the Channel last night after a British rescue boat was seen entering French waters in an apparent bid to save migrants, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
A Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) vessel was picked up on radar on the ‘wrong’ side of the sea border at 8am yesterday.
It is believed it was attempting to rescue migrants trying to make the perilous journey across the Channel towards the UK amid a frenzied month of arrivals.
According to maritime law, boats are only allowed to cross into other territories for search-and-rescue operations.
LED TO SAFETY: Around 40 migrants are brought ashore at Dungeness in Kent after being rescued by another RNLI lifeboat yesterday
A French patrol boat near Calais
A French law enforcement boat, 43-metre Fourmentin, was also captured on ship-tracking software entering British waters at 9.04am yesterday. It is not clear if the two boats were working together.
A record 25,000 migrants are expected to have crossed the Channel in small boats this year by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. As of Thursday, 24,231 people had made the crossing this year.
Since Monday alone, 2,818 migrants have made the journey from Calais to Dover.
New figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday suggest Albanian migrants could be exploiting modern-day slavery laws to avoid deportation.
Statistics from different Government departments analysed by Migration Watch UK show an almost 320 per cent rise in people from the Balkan state claiming to be victims of trafficking over the last decade.
In 2015, 600 Albanian migrants appealed for help, rising to 2,511 in 2021.
This month, former Immigration Minister Chris Philp said that when he was in the role between 2019 and 2021, he had witnessed Channel migrants saying they were not victims of slavery – only to change their stories after speaking to lawyers.
A woman with a child as a group of people thought to be migrant are brought in to Dungeness
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, onboard the RNLI Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel yesterday
Yesterday, the RNLI reported women and children were among another group of people brought ashore by a different lifeboat.
About 40 people were brought to Dungeness in Kent before they were taken by coach to a Home Office processing facility.
According to International Maritime Law, rescue services are obligated to enter all waters regardless of territories for search-and- rescue purposes.
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