The Boat Smugglers 

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BBC Radio 4 - The Boat Smugglers

Sue Mitchell investigates the dangerous organisations behind the the deadly migrant trade.

Sue Mitchell teams up with former British soldier and aid worker Rob Lawrie to investigate how boats used in migrant Channel crossings are sourced and the huge profits being made.

The recent rise in migrant boat crossings between France the UK is being fuelled in part by the more sophisticated methods gangs are using to source the boats
 
Last year when they investigated the smuggling gangs for BBC Radio 4, reporter Sue Mitchell and former British soldier and aid worker Rob Lawrie were alongside Border Force officials as they seized all manner of dinghies used in the crossings. Today that haul looks very different: the makeshift supply has been replaced by a sophisticated business which sees boats manufactured in Turkey and transported across Europe to the beaches of France.
 
This streamlined supply chain is big business and it’s enabled the gangs to rapidly expand the trade: bigger boats made specifically for these crossings are mass manufactured in Turkey and shipped straight into the hands of smugglers. It’s a complicated dodging of laws as they’re transported across Europe, with authorities slow to react. And it promises to thwart whatever deals are secured between Britain and France to intercept the Channel crossings themselves.

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