Britain | The small-boat business

Britain’s plan to smash people-smuggling gangs has a big problem

There are no gangs

Migrants board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel
Photograph: Getty Images
|Dunkirk

“There are different types of smuggler,” explains an Iraqi man who crossed the English Channel in an inflatable boat and was subsequently given asylum in Britain. “Some of the smugglers have a brand. They are famous for using brand new dinghies, and for using lifejackets. Others are cheap, but not safe at all. They have used and faulty dinghies.”

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