Channel Migrants: Two More Boats Found After 86 People Attempt Crossing

Last month, Home Secretary Priti Patel said urgent action was needed to put a stop to the wave of crossings, after she met French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in Paris.

Early on Tuesday, two small vessels carrying a total of 23 people were intercepted by a Border Force cutter, which took the migrants to immigration officials for questioning.

They said they were Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Filipinos, the Home Office said.

At about midday, a boat carrying 18 people near Dungeness, Kent, was taken to Dover by the Border Force, with 14 presenting themselves as Iranian, three as Iraqi and one as Vietnamese.

Around the same time, a boat carrying 23 people was also intercepted in the Channel, with those on board saying they were both Iranian and Ethiopian, the department added.

Two separate groups, who said they were from Iran, Iraq and Turkey, made it to beaches in East Sussex without being detected at sea, but were later detained and transferred to immigration officials.

The Home Office declared the matter a major incident under former Home Secretary Sajid Javid and pledged millions of pounds to tackle the crisis, dispatching the three Border Force cutters.

A plan drawn up in January included a £6 million investment in security equipment, CCTV coverage of beaches and ports and a commitment to return migrants under international and domestic laws, the department said.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are working closely at all levels with the French authorities to tackle this dangerous and illegal activity.”

The number of migrants taken in by UK authorities so far this year is thought to have passed 1,000.