France makes first interception targeting small boat crossings to UK
Officials in France have launched their first attack on the sea as part of a new strategy aimed at blocking small boats carrying illegal migrants to the UK. On Saturday, French officers boarded a so-called taxi-boat
in Gravelines, which is on the Channel coast off the coast of Calais. It comes after a change of tactics agreed in November in the aftermath of increasing pressure from the UK government to step up interventions. A snapshot of the aftermath of the BBC's operation shows a group of men, presumably people smugglers, on an inflatable dinghy with the police launch alongside. The inflatable is then towed to the dockside.
For clarification, the BBC has contacted French authorities. At a summit in the United Kingdom last July between President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer, France accepted the new tactics. Before that, French police had only attempted to stop small boats from being launched on beaches, but not before. It was considered that going on board was too risky. However, smugglers' bands learned how to avoid police by using taxi-boats,
which enter the water some distance away and then cruise along the coast picking up groups of migrants who want to board the sea. According to official French reports, this strategy was extremely fruitful, with an 81% success rate in 2025. The number of migrants arriving in the United Kingdom from France increased last year from 36,566 in 2024 to 41,472, but it was less than the peak of 45,774 in 2022. Following the July 2025 deal to begin on-water operations, there were more delays due to fears over the danger to life and officers' immunity to prosecution, as migrants were expected to die in an operation. These questions seem to have been addressed right now. Gendarmes will only intervene to prevent taxi-boats
from attacking migrants until they are fully charged, not when they are completely charged. This appears to have been the treatment used in Saturday's surgery. The inflatable, which was sliding down the canal to its mouth at the sea, was supposed to be used for picking up migrants, so police began to arrest the migrants on board.
