Smugglers are hiding migrants in former Nazi bunkers before loading them on to dinghies for the perilous voyage across the Channel to the UK.
We saw thugs herd dozens of desperate Kurds into the concrete relics – built by Hitler in a vain bid to stop the Allies invading France during World War Two.
The derelict concrete forts are hidden in dunes less than a mile from the French coast between Calais and Dunkirk. They were part of Hitler’s so-called “Atlantic Wall” – built to try to stop the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in 1944.
One local told us: “The gangs are using the bunkers as a final staging post for the migrants to rest and prepare for the final stage of their journey.
“Large numbers of them arrive each day and stay huddled together inside them out of sight through the night before leaving early to get on dinghies.
“Police are aware of what’s happening but there isn’t much they can do.”
The blockhouses, on the outskirts of the small town of Grand-Fort-Philippe, include a former anti-tank gun garage, weapon storerooms and barracks. Smugglers take migrants there after herding them on to buses, which are free to travel on, outside a supermarket near Dunkirk.
They get off at a bus stop and are taken to the bunkers, a 10-minute walk away via a park.
Our investigators watched on Thursday evening as more than 70 men, mostly from the Kurdistan region, were led there with the intention of being guided to small boats in the early hours of the following morning.
When we approached the group early the next day, a man who appeared to be in charge demanded angrily: “Why are you here? What do you want? Go!”
Police follow the buses used by the migrants and then on foot using drones and night-vision goggles. But they do not have the manpower to stop them.
Nearly 7,000 have arrived in Britain by small boat so far this year – 20% higher than this time last year.
Some 29,437 made the journey in the whole of 2023, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
But numbers are expected to soar as the weather improves. They include Danayet Abrha, 25, from Eritrea, who wants to train as a nurse in London.
She said: “I’ve been here two weeks. Two of my friends died after drowning on a boat from Libya to Italy and some have been imprisoned in Libya.
“I’m not scared of being here or of the boat journey to England. I’ve already been through much worse.
“We’ve been on a hard road and we aren’t going to stop now.” Maryam Shinwari, 24, has been staying in a tent in a forest near Dunkirk with her husband and three children after escaping Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, when her husband was threatened by the Taliban.
She said: “It is very hard, the weather is very cold. I am scared about the journey across the water.”
In March last year Rishi Sunak agreed to give France nearly half a billion pounds to help them build a new detention centre near Dunkirk, buy more drones and hire 500 more police officers to prevent migrants making the dangerous journey.
And the PM’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill cleared Parliament last Tuesday after months of deadlock.
The legislation declares the African nation is a safe place to send asylum seekers, even though the Supreme Court ruled it was not in November.
Migrants are becoming increasingly desperate as a result, with smugglers cashing in by charging them up to £10,000 each to get from their home countries before packing them on to overcrowded dinghies.
Some 402 migrants, including young children and babies, arrived on seven small boats on Tuesday, on the same day that five people died, including a seven-year-old girl from Kuwait.
They drowned when a boat built to carry 20 people but with 112 aboard capsized on a sandbar shortly after being launched from Wimereux, near Calais.
Two men, from Sudan and South Sudan, were charged with immigration offences following the police probe into the deaths.
They have claimed they are aged just 15 and 16 and have been remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at Folkestone youth court in Kent on Tuesday.
One survivor told how the overcrowded boat had been stormed by a rival group armed with sticks and knives before it set off.
The tragedy has taken the number known to have perished risking the crossing so far this year to 14.
A source said: “To the gangs it’s like a large game of cat and mouse and there are a lot more mice than cats. But this isn’t a game, it’s people’s lives we’re talking about and the deaths are mounting up. The gangs know the area well, using areas like the bunkers to hide them.
“Even though police are having successes they simply can’t stop them every time.”
Policing ‘makes migrants even more desperate
Heavy-handed policing is forcing migrants in French camps to take more risks to flee to Britain, a charity is warning.
Care4Calais’ Chris McSherry said: “Police are using tear gas, baton rounds and carrying out clearances every 48 hours. There’s a sustained campaign of dehumanisation.”
He said migrants are pushed to extremes, leading overcrowding on boats such as on Tuesday when five people died. Mr McSherry said the Rwanda scheme will not deter people crossing the Channel as they had no choice.
“The solution is giving people access to safe and legal routes. They would put people smugglers out of business overnight.
“We saw that with Ukraine – not a single Ukrainian got in a boat.
“For all the political point-scoring, this is people’s lives. It’s a human right to claim asylum.”
