Gangs give migrants only enough fuel to make it halfway across the Channel

PEOPLE smugglers are giving migrants only enough fuel to make it halfway across the Channel, the Daily Express understands.

- Michael Knowles

The organised crime gangs are relying on Border Force to rescue asylum seekers from the water because the chances of the dinghies making it to the Kent coast are so slim.

Once the occupants are transferred on to UK vessels, staff check the fuel in the dinghies and remove it.

Sources have revealed the petrol migrants are supplied with is not sufficient to cross the Dover Strait.

The boats, often around 26ft long, are dangerously close to breaking within moments of leaving the French coastline. The engines to power them cannot push the vessels through the water, increasing the risk of sinking.

But it also crucially burns the little fuel they have. The Daily Express has heard examples of migrants being rescued off the French coast after effectively going round in circles for several hours because the boat is unable to break through the water.

Prevent