Twelve miles out in the Channel, the group of astonished fishermen from Dover rocked on the waves and watched the rickety migrant dinghy chug past.

Although the small boat was completely overloaded, it was safely escorted into British waters by the French patrol vessel Fourmentin as it chugged through the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

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Matt Cocker, a 44-year-old fishing boat captain, told me: “There was a lull in migrant boat traffic at the beginning of the year, but now things are really busy again.”

The dinghy that passed the British crew was part of a nine-strong flotilla that brought 492 migrants here on Saturday.

Although they Performance Just a few weeks ago, Labour had promised to “smash” smuggling. Gangs is already being examined closely.

Since Keir Starmer took office, around 5,700 migrants have arrived in small boats – while the government has still not appointed a head of its much-vaunted border security command.

On Monday, further chaotic scenes occurred in front of the historic port of Grand-Fort-Philippe near Dunkirk. The port has become a flashpoint for violent clashes between migrants and police officers.

At 7:30 a.m., about 100 meters from the beach, a police boat docked next to an overcrowded rubber dinghy, but allowed it to continue.

That day, three more boats with 206 people on board reached British waters.

The mayor of the French port city warned that the clashes between migrants and the authorities would escalate into an “urban guerrilla war.”

Not far from the so-called New Jungle in Loon-Plage, a waterway runs through Grand-Fort-Philippe to the sea.

“Unbearable aggression”

Its shores have been used by smugglers to launch dinghies, and the extensive sand dunes that line the beaches near the city provide shelter for migrants waiting to run to their allocated dinghies.

Last week, around 50 migrants were prevented by gendarmes from boarding a rubber dinghy.

A scuffle broke out on the beach and spread to the residential streets of the town, which has a population of around 5,000.

In a similar incident the previous evening, cars and houses were damaged by stone throwing.

mayor Sony Clinquart said: “The population is angry and has legitimate fears.”

Patrice Vergriete, chairman of the Dunkirk district council, said police officers had been subjected to “provocations and unbearable aggression”.

Charities claim that French police are using increasing levels of violence.

Salome Bahri of Utopia 56 said: “The staff strikes, the tear gas “The attacks, the boats with holes – that is nothing new. What is new is the repetition and intensity of the violence.”

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No migrants were arrested during the recent unrest. A local police spokesman said: “The unrest has been brought under control – that was our priority.”

Officials believe that smugglers encourage migrants to “fight the police” in order to “leave the country as quickly as possible.”

A senior French official told The Sun: “The situation is desperate. We can only monitor the migrants to a limited extent.”

“Arrests are discouraged because processing the migrants takes a lot of time and effort. No matter what happens, the migrants are released and can continue their journey.”

Reinforcements were now sent to Grand-Fort-Philippe to calm the locals.

This week, at sunrise, police cars were stationed on both sides of the river.

Frederic Loiseau, a senior local government official in Dunkirk, said: “We are witnessing increasing aggressiveness towards the police, who are forced to intervene physically and put themselves in danger.

“You have to try to stop immigrants from taking risks and hurting themselves and the police.”

Business with big money

Despite hundreds of millions being spent to combat traffickers and prevent boats from leaving France, the deadly industry appears to be becoming increasingly rationalized and profitable.

Interior Ministry figures show that an average of 51 people now arrive on each boat, compared to 44 last year and just ten in 2019.

The excessive overcrowding of the dinghies has resulted in around 25 migrants dying while attempting to cross the Channel this year alone.

At the sprawling New Jungle camp, migrants said a place on a boat costs about £1,300 to £1,400.

This means that each boat brings in an average of more than £70,000 for the smuggling gangs.

There is simply too much money at stake. If one smuggler is arrested, another is there to take his place.

I have heard promises before that the gangs will be broken up, but the boats still come.

Fishing boat captain Matt Cocker

Amid rotting food and scattered garbage, 36-year-old Iraqi Narwan was once prevented from crossing the border by police, he told his wife and his young children.

He explained: “We were carrying the dinghy on our heads to the beach when the police fired tear gas at us.

“My eight-year-old had gas in his eyes. I screamed at the police: ‘What are you doing? We are trying to leave your country.’

“They said, ‘We’re trying to stop you from risking your life.’

“But my family and I will keep trying until we make it to the UK.

This week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised to deport 14,500 migrants to the next six months while she developed her border strategy.

Return agreements have been signed with countries such as Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Serbia and Georgia.

While waiting for a charity to deliver food donations to him at the New Jungle, a worker from Amritsar, India, said he was one of 60 of his compatriots living in the camp.

The 26-year-old, who did not want to give his name, told me: “I want to go to Britain because it is difficult to find a job in India and the wages are too low.”

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“Stinky misery”

An Afghan who has spent much of his life in Britain said the new Labour government was “good” for migrants.

The shop worker and resident of Longsight, Manchester, pretended to be called Imran and sneaked out of the UK in a lorry to meet his brother who was trying to book accommodation at a canal crossing.

Manchester United fan Imran, 32, said: “I love Britain. I arrived when I was 14 and was taken in by a foster family. But I still don’t have papers to travel.”

He called former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a “racist”, adding: “His family are immigrants but he wanted to send people like me to Rwanda.”

“Labour is good for immigrants and not racist.”

Since he has no travel papers, he will attempt to cross the Channel again undercover to continue his life in Britain.

Despite constant police raids, the New Jungle remains a smuggler-infested stopover.

Jackson Arop, 26, from Sudan, said he was fleeing civil war in his home country, adding: “I want to go to Britain because I speak English. I have no Money for a boat.”

Mohammad Yagobi, 26, who was born in Iran, said he was charged just under £1,400 for a berth on a dinghy.

“I know it’s dangerous,” he said. “But I want to start a new life in Britain.”

As we talked, three grim-looking, stocky Kurds who appeared to be inspecting the row of tent shops in the camp told us not to point our cameras at them.

As on my previous visits, I spoke to several migrants whose asylum applications had been rejected in other European countries and who were now trying their luck in the UK.

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The despair on the faces of the people living in the stinking squalor of the camp makes it clear why it is so difficult to stop human trafficking.

The government plans to “crush” the gangs with the help of its new border guard command, which will have “counter-terrorism style powers”.

Yvette Cooper will push forward the last government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in a bid to achieve the highest deportation rate since Theresa May’s time in office.

This week, the Minister of the Interior announced 100 new national crime Agency officials – the first tranche of up to 1,000 employees to be recruited.

They are deployed throughout Europe to work with Europol and other authorities to break up smuggling networks.

James Cleverly, the Conservative leadership candidate and shadow home secretary, said Labour’s plans were not even remotely effective after abandoning “deterrence” over Rwanda.

Even fishing boat captain Matt Cocker, who has witnessed the dinghy phenomenon grow from a single boat in the canal to a full-blown industry, is not convinced.

“There’s just too much money involved,” he said. “When one smuggler is arrested, another is there to take his place.”

“I have heard promises before that the gangs would be broken up, but the boats still come.”