Smugglers hide migrants in old Nazi bunkers before perilous Channel crossing
Smuggling gangs are hiding migrants in former Nazi bunkers before sending them on the perilous journey across the English Channel to the UK.
Dozens of desperate asylum seekers, mainly Kurds, were photographed at the derelict World War II forts on the French north coast this week.
The concrete structures were built by Hitler’s forces to keep the Allies from invading German-occupied France in 1944.
According to a resident who spoke to the Mirror, smugglers are using them as a ‘final staging post for the migrants to rest and prepare for the final stage of their journey.’
They said: ‘Large numbers of them arrive each day and stay huddled together inside them out of sight through the night before leaving early to get on dinghies.
Police are aware of what’s happening, they added, but don’t have the manpower to stop it.
The bunkers are hidden among the dunes less than a mile from the coast on the outskirts of a small town called Grand-Fort-Philippe, which lies halfway between Dunkirk and Calais.
A Mirror investigator said they saw more than 70 men, mostly from the Kurdistan region, led towards the buildings on Thursday evening.
It’s believed they were taken to dinghies the following morning to make the dangerous sea crossing to the UK.
Almost 7,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since the start of 2024 – 20% higher than for the same period last year.
During 2023, 29,437 made the journey, about 30% less than in 2022 when a record 45,774 crossed.
Sadly not everyone makes it across. So far this year alone, 14 people have died at sea, including a seven-year-girl from Kuwait and four adults on Tuesday.
Their boat, carrying 110 people, was attempting to travel over the busy stretch of water after leaving the French town of Wimereux.
Dany Patoux, who works for Boulogne-based migrant charity Osmose, 62, said the girl who died was known well to them.
He said: ‘We have photos with her, with a big smile on her face, in the hope of a better life.
‘But now, everything is ruined. Her father fell into our arms right away. He was crying, in a daze. He saw his little daughter die before his eyes.’
Last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed to give France half a billion pounds to build a new detention centre near Dunkirk, boost police numbers and buy more drones to stop people trying to make it across the Channel.
And on Tuesday, his controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill was given the green light following months of setbacks.
The legislation claims the African country is a safe place for asylum seekers, despite the Supreme Court ruling it was not in September.
Charities Freedom from Torture, Amnesty International, and Liberty described the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill as ‘a significant threat to the rule of law’.
A spokesman said: ‘This shameful Bill trashes the constitution and international law whilst putting torture survivors and other refugees at risk of an unsafe future in Rwanda.’
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