France makes first interception targeting small boat crossings to UK
French authorities intervened at sea for the first time under the new policy aimed at stopping small boats carrying illegal immigrants to the UK.
On Saturday he was put on a so-called “taxi boat” by French officers on the Aa canal at Gravelines on the Channel coast above Calais.
This follows a change of tactics agreed in November following mounting pressure from the UK government to step up interventions.
A photograph of the aftermath of the operation obtained by the BBC shows a number of men (apparently people smugglers) on an inflatable boat next to the police boat. The inflatable boat is then pulled to the harborside.
The BBC has approached French authorities for comment.
France adopted the new tactics at the summit between President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer in England last July.
By then, French police were intervening to stop small boats preparing to sail onto the beaches. It was decided that intervention at sea was too dangerous.
But gangs of smugglers have learned to evade the police by using “taxi boats” that enter the water at a distance and then travel along the shore, picking up groups of migrants who also enter the water.
According to official French documents, this method has proven to be extremely effective, with an 81% success rate in 2025.
The number of migrants arriving in the UK from France rose last year to 41,472, from 36,566 in 2024, although this was lower than the peak of 45,774 in 2022.
Following an agreement to launch on-water interventions in July 2025, there were further delays due to concerns about the threat to life and the liability of police officers to prosecute the deaths of migrants in action.
It now appears that these concerns have been resolved. Under the terms of engagement, gendarmes will only intervene to stop “taxi boats” before they pick up migrants, and not when they are fully charged.
This appears to be the procedure used in Saturday’s operation.
Police took action to arrest the men on board, as they suspected that the inflatable boat, which was advancing through the canal to its mouth at sea, would be used to pick up immigrants.
