AMID the fetid gloom of a derelict Calais wine warehouse, Ahmed Adam insists he’ll risk everything to reach Britain’s shores.
And with prices for an illegal lift across the Channel now almost less than a QUARTER of the price they were two years ago his dream has come even more affordable.
Simon JonesInside a derelict wine warehouse in Calais which has become a waystation for those looking to secure passage to Britain[/caption]
Simon JonesThe warehouse is located close to the site of the disbanded Jungle camp on Calais’s northern fringes[/caption]
Simon JonesAhmed Adam says he’ll risk everything to reach Britain’s shores[/caption]
Simon JonesRotting rubbish and discarded food is attracting rats at the warehouse[/caption]
Staring out at rows of tents crammed into the ramshackle building – where the reek of urine outside is overpowering – the teenager said forlornly: “It’s true that many people drown at sea.
“But it would be better to die in the waves than live my life here.”
His despairing words are a testament to the determination of tens of thousands to cross the English Channel from France, the world’s seventh richest country.
Last year 82 migrants perished in the freezing Channel waters, at least 14 of them children.
Officials believe the figures – a grim record – underestimate the true picture.
Little wonder local Mayor Stephane Pinto implored Sir Keir Starmer this week to “come and look at our beaches.”
The official from Ambleteuse – 17 miles down the coast from Calais – told the BBC: “We must put in place measures to stop bodies on our beaches.”
Despite the dangers – and the UK government’s repeated promises to smash the trafficking gangs – the cross Channel trade in humanity is booming.
On Sunday 11 flimsy dinghies were able to evade French police and ferry 592 migrants into British waters.
Then yesterday three more rickety boats carrying 182 people outwitted the millions in surveillance technology and manpower to make the crossing.
Ahmed and two friends, all from the north east African nation of Sudan, soon hope to join them.
Fleeing his homeland’s brutal civil war, Ahmed, 19, told me: “I want to go to London because it’s a safe place where I can study and then find work.”
The old wine warehouse – not far from the site of the disbanded Jungle camp on Calais’s northern fringes – is now a waystation for those looking to secure passage to Britain.
Where once plonk beloved by British booze cruisers was stored, now dozens – perhaps hundreds – of migrants wait to strike a deal for a berth on a dinghy.
There are no toilets or running water, and a mound of rotting rubbish and discarded food attracts rats.
Wet clothing has been placed on the barbed wire perimeter fence to dry in the cold breeze.
Doctors Without Borders Coordinator Feyrouz Lajili said in January that migrants in Calais were “surviving in shameful, inhumane conditions”.
Behind the cavernous warehouse, migrants huddle around a small fire while others kick a football around in the late afternoon chill.
It would be better to die in the waves than live my life here
Ahmed Adam
A pair of large white plastic tanks provide drinking water and there is kindling for fires.
The warehouse provides little respite from sub zero night time temperatures but protects against the bitter squalls that blow in off the Channel.
Ahmed’s friend, dad-of two Hatem Arman, 40, revealed: “The conditions here are very bad.
“I’ve been here for seven months to save the money for a place on a boat. It costs Euros 1,000 (about £825).”
The cut price deal compares to £1,500 widely quoted to me two years ago. In 2022 the going rate was £2,000, while at the start of 2020 it was £3,800.
Prices for a place on one of the deathtrap dinghies have fallen as greedy traffickers cram more migrants onboard.
New figures from France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea reveal the average number of people crammed onto each boat has risen from 45 in 2023 to 54 last year.
And human smugglers have also widened their choice of launch sites with Dieppe – around 110 miles down the coast in Normandy – now targeted.
Simon JonesArmed cops raid two open air migrant camps not far from the warehouse[/caption]
Simon JonesPolice clearing out the camps in Calais[/caption]
Simon JonesRemnants of the old wine warehouse remain[/caption]
‘Safeguard life at sea’
Deputy head of the regional council Audrey Baconnais-Rosez said: “In January we saved 46 people.
“We have put more cameras and more security around the Dieppe harbour. We want to safeguard life at sea and have increased the surveillance.”
On Monday Sun photographer Simon Jones and I caught a glimpse of how some of the £500m gifted by British tax payers is spent by French police.
We watched as ten van loads of armed cops, many clutching riot shields, raided two open air migrant camps on waste ground and scrubland not far from the warehouse.
Seemingly alerted to the gendarme’s imminent arrival, many hurriedly left the camps clutching the worldly possessions in black bin liners.
The police raid the camps three times a week. There’s a lot of intimidation
Local humanitarian worker
One local humanitarian worker, in her 20s, told me: “We are here to monitor what’s going on.
“The police raid the camps three times a week. There’s a lot of intimidation.”
Some tents were removed but soon after the cops left the migrants began drifting back to their makeshift homes amid hawthorn and oak trees.
Heading back to one of the raided camps, Eritreans Osman, 19, Nahom, 30, and Mohammed, 18, told me they had been in Calais for seven days.
Osman gestured with his chin towards the disappearing police vans and said: “We want to get to Britain as soon as possible.”
In 2018 Britain’s then Prime Minister Theresa May signed the Sandhurst Treaty with French President Emmanuel Macron to help with the cost of policing the French shoreline.
Over time around half a billion pounds of UK taxpayers’ hard-earned cash was allocated to French coffers.
A large portion of the money was spent on helicopters, motorbikes and cars along with surveillance equipment including dash cams and drones.
Other purchases were, perhaps, more questionable.
In November 2023 it emerged that riding boots, microwaves, e-scooters, phone chargers and vacuum cleaners had been snaffled up by the French.
Some of the funding was also spent on guarding France’s border with Italy which is around 550 miles from the English Channel.
Despite the millions spent and tough words and pledges from both Conservative and Labour politicians, migrants have continued to make the perilous journey.
Home Office figures show 36,816 people crossed the Channel in small boats in 2024 – up from 29,437 in 2023.
Simon JonesDozens – perhaps hundreds – of migrants at the warehouse are waiting to strike a deal for a dinghy[/caption]
Simon JonesWet clothing has been placed on the barbed wire perimeter fence to dry[/caption]
Deadly risks
Before Monday’s figures were taken into account, 2,716 people had made the crossing so far this year – a 20 per cent increase on the same period in 2024 (though lower than in 2023).
Calais MP Marc de Fleurian insists British and French authorities are doing a “great job” at tackling traffickers – but says that’s not always the case with their German counterparts.
“There’s a lack of cooperation with the Germans to destroy the logistics of the Turkish and Kurdish networks based in Germany,” he said.
The 36-year-old, who represents Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally party, said that any proposal to allow British cops to patrol the beaches here would be unacceptable to the French.
“It would be very disrespectful to the French people. They won’t like it,” he told me.
“They like the British, of course, but they wouldn’t like having a foreign uniform on their own coast. And that’s something the British will easily understand.”
There’s a lack of cooperation with the Germans to destroy the logistics of the Turkish and Kurdish networks based in Germany
Calais MP Marc de Fleurian
The former officer in the French Foreign Legion estimates there are currently around a thousand migrants in Calais preparing to reach UK shores.
After scrapping the Tory’s Rwanda initiative, Sir Keir has put much faith in the forces of law and order to take out the people smugglers.
Yet, with both the Tories and Reform UK talking tough on migration, smashing the gangs is a policy the Prime Minister will be judged on come the next General Election.
Last week Home Secretary Yvette Cooper met her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau in Calais.
They spoke with French military police wearing Nato-like “Mission Small Boat” sleeve badges bearing the flags of both countries.
In a move which may prove a game changer, Retailleau indicated French officers would start intercepting migrants in shallow water, a practice they currently refrain from.
While the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently being debated in Parliament includes stronger powers to seize and search mobile phones.
Plus it includes plans for new offences on selling or handling dinghies for smuggling purposes.
A Home Office spokesman insisted they “will stop at nothing to dismantle” the people smugglers’ “business models and bring them to justice.”
Until they succeed – or if the stringent measures fail – much depends on the weather.
The smugglers are keen meteorologists and a glance at the Calais forecast this week shows sunshine and light winds are expected.
In the streets around the old wine warehouse, migrants with packed bin liners wait for smugglers’ calls.
Ready to take their place on dinghy, despite the deadly risks – and the might of two nations trying to stop them.
Simon JonesIt would be better to die in the waves than live my life here, says Sudanese Ahmed[/caption]
Simon JonesSun man Oliver Harvey at the rat-infested Calais warehouse[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
