A five-month investigation by the BBC reveals that boats intended for clandestine Channel crossings are hidden in warehouses near the city of Essen, in western Germany. A city close enough to Calais in France to then reach the English Channel.
To conduct the investigation, a British public media journalist posed as a Syrian migrant wishing to reach the United Kingdom with his family and friends. He managed to contact two smugglers based in the city of Essen, not far from the border with the Netherlands.
They offer him, for 14,000 francs, the transport to France of an inflatable boat with life jackets. The two smugglers claim to have around ten warehouses around Essen where boats imported from Türkiye are stored.
Holes in German legislation
Essen is a medium-sized German city where many migrants reside. It is close enough to Calais that you can get there quite quickly by taking the motorway. In four or five hours, it is possible to reach the port city, located near the coast from where illegal immigrants leave to reach the United Kingdom.
Britain’s National Crime Agency confirms that Germany has become a major transit point for storing boats and engines used for Channel crossings.
Even if there are much fewer controls in Essen than on the beaches of northern France, police raids sometimes take place, but the power of the police is limited. Because facilitating the smuggling of illegal immigrants is not considered illegal in Germany, if it is done to a country outside the EU, as is the case in the United Kingdom since Brexit.
Radio subject: Catherine Illic
Adaptation web: Lucie Ostorero
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