Border Force now a ‘taxi service’ for people smugglers charging £8,749 | World | News

The UK Border Force is now effectively acting as a “taxi service” for criminal people-smugglers who openly charge up to £8,749 a head to deliver illegal migrants into Britain, a Brussels-based expert has claimed. Frank Furedi, Executive Director of MCC Brussels, said the accusation is backed by hard evidence in Europol’s just-published ninth annual report, which for the first time maps precise smuggling routes and price lists targeting the United Kingdom.

He said the document proves that, as successive Tory and Labour governments have lost control of the borders, people-smuggling has ballooned from a “veritable industry” into a full-blown “growth industry”. He declared: “Instead of smashing the criminal gangs, the UK Border Force acts as a taxi service for their illegal clients. In effect, British officialdom has become complicit in the growth of mass migration.”

The latest available data shows that the number of people attempting the illegal crossing has continued to surge. As of November 2025, more than 39,292 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year, already surpassing the total for all of 2024, which recorded about 37,000 arrivals.

This increase slowed after the summer months, but the total for 2025 remains nearly 20% higher than the corresponding figure for 2024, although it is still below the record set in 2022. Since 2018, more than 190,430 migrants have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats.

The Europol report stresses that these are highly sophisticated, structured, and increasingly global organisations. The networks are decentralised, with leadership and key operatives often based outside the EU, enabling them to remain operational even when one part of the criminal chain is dismantled.

Such global reach allows them to tailor their business models easily and respond dynamically to external factors, including policy developments, law enforcement activities, and emerging crises.

The Europol report highlights routes to Britain costing between £1,312 (€1,500) and £8,749 (€10,000), with one advertised package offering “smuggling with fraudulent documents from various EU countries to Ireland by air and to the UK over land” for around £6,999 (€8,000). Networks routinely bundle forged passports, safe houses and transport into premium all-in-one services.

Criminal networks are also aggressively exploiting the digital domain. They are using social media platforms as the primary gateway for advertising facilitation services and first contact. They rely on encrypted messaging platforms, which they perceive as a “safe environment” for communication, and even use AI-generated advertisements in multiple languages.

Furthermore, Europol has observed a growing shift toward using cryptocurrencies to transfer smuggling fees. Some systems have begun integrating crypto assets, relying on crypto brokers or cash couriers, which makes the financial trails highly decentralised and layered.

The price list for fraudulent documents alone underscores the complexity of these services, ranging from as little as £437 (€500) for a forged ID card up to £4,375 (€5,000) for a counterfeit passport.

A disturbing trend highlighted in the report is the increasing use of violence as a business feature. Threats, kidnappings, sexual abuse, and torture are routinely used to extort migrants and their families for ransom. These criminal networks also resort to violent acts against rival groups and, increasingly, against law enforcement in a bid to defend their market share.

Mr Furedi accused ministers of wasting billions of pounds propping up the EU’s “failed migration and asylum policies” while handing hundreds of millions to France, only to watch French police “look on” as small-boat departures surge year after year. He branded the various “one in, one out” deportation deals “an utter failure”, with removed migrants returning almost immediately.

This « one in, one out » concept refers to the UK-France Returns Agreement, which came into effect on August 5, 2025. The treaty enables the return of small boat arrivals from the UK to France, with an equal number of individuals becoming eligible to come to the UK through a new legal route.

The Home Office reported the first return under this agreement on September 18, 2025. However, within weeks, reports emerged that at least one individual removed to France under this scheme had returned to the UK via a small boat, seemingly confirming Mr Furedi’s claim that removed migrants are returning almost immediately.

Me Furedi said: “It’s our local communities that are left exposed and paying the price for the current government’s reluctance to get back control of our borders. The British people are being taken for a ride.”

The report confirms the UK remains a high-value destination, with trafficking corridors running from North Africa, the Western Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean converging on northern France and Belgium before the final Channel crossing or overland journey using fake papers.

Only one 2024 operation detailed in the document lists direct British law-enforcement participation: the November dismantling of a Syrian-led network across twenty countries, including the UK, which led to 25 arrests for migrant smuggling, weapons trafficking and document forgery.

Critics have long argued that escorting small boats into British waters rather than turning them back merely incentivises more crossings. The Home Office insists all Border Force actions comply with international search-and-rescue obligations.

Mr Furedi said the Europol evidence should be a wake-up call, adding: “We have known for some time that people smuggling into the UK has become a veritable industry, but what the Europol report shows is that, as successive Tory and Labour governments have lost control of our borders, it has become a growth industry.”