The captain of an English cargo ship accused the French navy of “illegally smuggling migrant ships” across the English Channel to Dover.
In damning radio messages, the angry senior officer complained to the French coast guard when his ship, Scot Pioneer, was prevented from entering the port of Dunkirk while navy ships, including a warship, guided ships from the traffickers around their boat.
In response, the coastguard informed him that there was an “agreement” between the governments in London and Paris for the French navy to escort migrant boats to Britain.
The captain begins his protest by radioing the French coast guard with the following words: “I would like to report what is an illegal operation in your waters.”
“This morning we witnessed a French government ship and a French navy warship escort a ship full of illegal immigrants across the Channel to the halfway point where they were handed over to another [Border Force] ship from Dover. She has already arrived there.
The file image shows a police officer on a beach in northern France during the departure of a boat carrying migrants trying to illegally cross the English Channel to reach Britain.
File image showing the French Navy’s Cormoran-class patrol vessel Flamant sailing near the port of Calais, northern France, in 2023.
‘Now I have the French warship passing beneath my stern, passing another ship loaded with migrants across the Channel. There is also another [French] ship to the west of us escorting a third migrant boat.
“This is not search and rescue, this is illegal human trafficking.”
A fisherman in British waters, who collected the open channel footage, told the Mail: “This captain witnessed first-hand the French navy escorting boats to waiting British Border Force vessels.”
A record number of 5,000 people on 100 small boats arrived in the UK from France this year at the end of March.
A government spokesman said: ‘The unacceptable number of people continuing to cross the Channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible.
‘We are working with France in the English Channel to ensure people are recovered as safely as possible. Our successful working together helped reduce arrivals by more than a third last year.’
Staff at Scotline, the company that owns the Pioneer Scot, declined to name its captain.