French cops nailing Calais people smugglers at double the rate they were four years ago
PEOPLE-smuggling from Calais has doubled in four years, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
There were just 100 cases heard at the local court in 2010 but 214 in 2014, the latest figures show.
Officials at the French Ministry of Justice in Paris could not provide a breakdown of nationalities convicted. But prosecutors at Boulogne-sur-Mer — which covers the Calais area — said several of those involved were British.
The figures emerged after smuggler Shabnam Zeeshan, 52, was jailed for a year. The Bolton mum of four was caught trying to sneak two migrants from France to Britain in her boot.
Related Stories
The French Interior Ministry revealed there are believed to have been more than 229 cases already this year.
The majority have been lone smugglers like Zeeshan but some plots involved fleets of trucks and vans.
Prosecutor Pascal Marconville said: “The workload has increased so significantly that we have had to take on an extra two prosecutors.”
Meanwhile French cops have smashed two smuggling rings which were putting migrants in trucks to Britain parked at Reims, 170 miles from Calais.
The news comes as President Francois Hollande says 9,000 migrants at Calais Jungle could be moved to centres across France in weeks.
Channel force call
AN MP wants a beefed-up Channel patrol force after three suspected migrants apparently crossed from France in a dinghy.
Cops were called at 9.15am after three men were spotted by locals.
Police in Deal, Kent, then handed them over to immigration officers.
John Varnham, who was walking his dogs, said: “The dinghy was on the beach with lifebelts.”
Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke is calling for “a new Dover Patrol led by Royal Marines to protect our borders”.
