French police swoop on two boats with 60 migrants on board

FRENCH cops dramatically swooped on two boats with 60 migrants on board as they try to end the huge influx across the Channel backed by British government’s £54million funding.

A unit of officers moved in after a spotter plane caught the migrants in life jackets dragging their RIBs in to the water.

But despite the interception at a beach near Loon-Plage, just half an hour from Calais, dozens of migrants still made the trip across the channel this weekend even in dangerous weather conditions.

One vessel was spotted as migrants rowed towards Britain with a French tug the Abeille Liberte escorting it.

Fisherman Matt Coker told The Sun:"It was a little dinghy, more of a toy than a boat and I could see a few people on it paddling with little oars.

“The French picked it up around 8am this morning and have been escorting them ever since.

"I heard on the radio that four or five boats had been spotted today (sunday) , not as many as usual but the weather wasn't good the last few days it was too windy."

Last week a huge diplomatic row erupted after the Home Secretary Priti Patel and Boris Johnson accused the French of shirking their duty and not doing enough to stop migrants leaving for Britain.

A French police source said: "It's ridiculous to say we are not doing enough.

“We are doing the best we can with the limited numbers of officers we have.

“We are talking almost 200km of coast from Dunkirk to Dieppe and to stop the sailings you would need a police officer every 50 meters which is just not going to happen."

At least 14,100 people have crossed to the UK on small boats this year.

That is already nearly 6,000 more than 2020.

Bad weather has stopped sailings the past few days and French authorities said they had rescued more than 320 people at sea since last Sunday.

French maritime law only allows them to intervene if there is a clear danger to life and with weather set to improve sailings are expected to resume again this week.