French police ‘completely overwhelmed’ by scale of migrant crisis

French police officers have admitted that they are “overwhelmed” by the scale of the migrant crisis in northern France and are “struggling to make a meaningful impact” on those trying to cross to the UK by small boat and inside lorries.

Although UK politicians are fixated on the very visible and high-profile small boats crisis, thousands of migrants are still risking their lives to sneak onto the back of trucks.

By day, migrants wait near road junctions and roundabouts, where lorries are forced to slow down, looking for any opportunity to climb onboard.

After dark, the problem is far worse, with many more migrants heading for lorry parks around the port.

Every time a new lorry parks up, within minutes it is surrounded by migrants, checking the back doors and probing for weak spots to climb inside.

The small boats problem gets most of the attention and millions of pounds of UK Government payments to the French each year.

But French police officers say that lorry smuggling, involving mainly young African men, is a major problem.

They say there are simply too many locations and too many migrants trying to board lorries, which had leaves them “struggling to make any meaningful impact” and “only able to mount passing patrols”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are relentless in our pursuit of those who seek to enter the UK illegally and stand ready to respond to all methods deployed by people-smuggling gangs, including lorries and other clandestine routes.

“Our extensive security measures include robust, specialist measures from Border Force who work closely with our international partners.

“Since the start of the year, Immigration Enforcement have also arrested over 230 people-smugglers, leading to 160 years in sentences.”