British Special Forces are poised to go to Calais to help French police track down the crime gangs sending migrants across the Channel.
The UK could offer up a team of around 30 elite troops from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) to help authorities in France tackle the ongoing crisis, according to The Mirror.
At least 27 migrants downed in the deadliest-ever Channel crossing earlier this week, with the disaster coming just hours after French police sat and watched boats leave their shore.
Four alleged people smugglers thought to be connected with the disaster were arrested by police north of Dunkirk, near the France-Belgian border, on Wednesday evening after tragedy struck shortly around 2pm.
At least 27 migrants downed in the deadliest-ever Channel crossing earlier this week (Pictured – Dover)
The only two survivors of the horror – an Iraqi and a Somalian – have reportedly told French police the dinghy was hit by a container ship that punctured its thin rubber hull and sank the vessel.
It is believed that smugglers in makeshift camps are continuing to offer trips across the Channel, despite the latest incident.
This morning, police officers have been photographed evicting migrants from a camp in Calais following talks between regional officials in France.
Earlier this week Boris Johnson made a renewed offer of hundreds of British ‘boots on the ground’ to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Johnson told reporters on Wesnesday: ‘This disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the channel in this way, and it also shows how vital it is that we step up our efforts to break the business model of the gangsters who are sending people to sea in this way.
The UK could offer up a team of around 30 elite troops from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) to help French authorities
The only two survivors of the horror have reportedly told French police the dinghy was hit by a container ship that punctured its thin rubber hull and sank the vessel.
It is believed that smugglers in makeshift camps are continuing to offer trips across the Channel, despite the latest incident
The SSR regiment (logo pictured) is the most secret part of UK special forces, specialising in aggressive surveillance
Police Officers have been evicting migrants staying in a camp in Calais, France
This morning, police officers have been photographed evicting migrants from a camp in Calais following talks between regional officials in France.
‘We have to work with our French friends, with our European partners, and I say to our partners across the Channel, now is the time for us all to step up, to work together, to do everything we can to break these gangs who are literally getting away with murder.
‘Our offer is to increase our support, but also to work together with our partners on the beaches concerned, on the launching grounds for these boats.’
The SSR regiment is the most secret part of UK special forces, specialising in aggressive surveillance. The force, which is the only unit of its kind to recruit women, is often deployed on operations which are deemed too dangerous for MI5.
The regiment offers support on counter-terrorist operations, and sometimes works with MI6 on foreign missions.
Members of the regiment are known to disguise themselves to better infiltrate situations.
They often disguised themselves in local clothing when fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Operators from the regiment could also be used to track and film traffickers, and Britain’s eavesdropped centre GCHQ is also believed to be offering to hack into mobile phone networks to gather intelligence.
People smugglers are charging more than £3,300 per head to make a Channel crossing, according to latest intelligence.
Harrowing stories have been emerging in the wake of the tragedy over this week.
A tragic phone call between two friends, Mohammad Aziz, 31, who has not been heard of since, and fellow Iraqi Kurd, Peshraw Aziz came to light on Friday.
Peshraw told MailOnline: ‘Mohammad decided to try his luck. But he phoned me in a panic and confessed that he wondered if he had made the right decision.
‘He told me that ‘it’s not good’, he thought the engine was not powerful enough, and was worried that the boat might sink, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to make it’. That was the last time I heard from him.’
Meanwhile, other migrants told how they feared for four Afghan youngsters who have also gone missing in the wake of Wednesday’s disaster which claimed at least 27 lives.
Riaz Mohammed, 12, his relative Share Mohammed, 17, and two other teenagers, Palowan, 16, and Shinai, 15, were among those attempting the perilous crossing that day.
Riaz Mohammed, 12, his relative Share Mohammed, 17, pictured wearing life jackets on the beach prior to the crossing which resulted in the deaths of 27 people
French police carry on a stretcher an unidentified body discovered off the Sangatte beach, the day after 27 migrants died when their dinghy deflated as they attempted to cross the English Channel, in Sangatte, near Calais, France, November 25, 2021
The group of migrants boarded the dinghy and gestured as they started to make the journey across the Channel to Britain
French officers have been photographed evicting migrants from a camp in Calais
A pregnant woman was among the 27 who perished. Officials said the dead included 17 men, seven women, two boys and one girl.
Kent MP Craig Mackinlay told MailOnline the tragedy ‘was both foreseeable and avoidable’.
‘My call is for France to properly prevent beach launchings and if they’re incapable of doing so then ask for UK assistance,’ he said. ‘My fear is this will be the first of many tragedies across the winter period. This dangerous enterprise must be stopped.’
Almost 27,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year – far eclipsing the roughly 8,000 who came in 2020 and 1,000 who arrived in 2019.
More than 6,050 have made the journey in November so-far, the most ever in a single month, and the surge shows no sign of slowing down.
