French police stood by and watched as migrants crashed English Channel When they tried to board boats bound for the UK. Photos show officers on a beach in northern Dunkirk FranceCame out on Monday (April 13).
others showed migrants Officers were standing in the sea and trying to board the boat. The images come after four migrants drowned last Thursday while trying to cross the Channel off Equine-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. was a 27 year old Sudanese man arrested At Manston processing center in Kent on suspicion of endangering life..
Two men and two women died while trying to board a so-called “taxi boat”. Two children were among those taken to hospital as a precaution after the incident, and another person was treated for hypothermia.
Alnaur Mohammed Ali appeared at Folkestone Magistrates Court and pleaded not guilty with the help of an interpreter.
He was remanded in custody and will appear at Canterbury Crown Court on 11 May.
“Taxi boat” smuggling tactics are designed to avoid detection by French police.
This sees dinghies traveling with only a driver to pre-determined beaches, where migrants enter the water to board.
The deaths came a day after French emergency services took part in a training exercise to practice dealing with migrants in water.
A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in 2025 – the second highest annual figure on record. There have been 5,136 arrivals so far this year.
The government’s One In, One Out deal came into force in August to send migrants crossing the Channel back to France and allow approved asylum seekers safe passage to the UK.
That agreement with the French was due to expire in March, but it has been extended for two months as negotiations continue between Paris and London.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s government dismisses Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposal Allowing UK Border Force vessels to stop and deport small boat migrants.
According to the French daily, Le Canard Enchaine, officials in France are said to have rejected the plan because it would involve British ships entering French territorial waters.
French officials have reportedly made it clear that their sovereignty over their own waters is a red line in the negotiations.
