Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangsGerman authorities seize dinghies and life jackets during their first raids under a new law that cracks down on smuggling.12 mins agoEurope

Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangs11 minutes agoJessica ParkerBerlin correspondentBBCThousands of life jackets, covered in plastic wrapping, were seized by the German authorities in the springGermany has carried out its first raids under a new law to crack down on smugglers using the country as a staging post for small boat…

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Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangsGerman authorities seize dinghies and life jackets during their first raids under a new law that cracks down on smuggling.12 mins agoEurope
Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangs
11 minutes ago

Jessica ParkerBerlin correspondent
BBC
Thousands of life jackets, covered in plastic wrapping, were seized by the German authorities in the spring

Germany has carried out its first raids under a new law to crack down on smugglers using the country as a staging post for small boat crossings on the English Channel, the BBC has learned.

More than 9,000 life jackets, dozens of dinghies and engines and 360 pumps were seized by police this spring during a joint operation involving the UK, France and Germany in the North Rhine-Westphalia region.

The dinghies and equipment are now being stored at a secret location that the BBC was given special access to.

The boats could have taken more than 2,000 migrants across the Channel illegally, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency.

Gangs have long used garages or warehouses to store equipment in western Germany before transporting it to northern France, but Berlin passed a law last December making it a specific criminal offence to facilitate migrant smuggling to the UK.

Before that, key anti-smuggling laws in Germany only applied to nations within the EU’s zone of free movement, not to third countries. It included the UK post-Brexit.

Raids have happened in Germany before, but often relied on French or Belgian warrants.

As part of a new plan agreed between the two countries.

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In 2024, Germany said it would tighten its laws to produce it easier to prosecute those helping to ferry migrants to the UK.

It followed a BBC investigation which exposed the country’s role in the small boat supply chain.

Germany’s Interior Ministry confirmed that these raids marked the first time enforcement measures had been taken under the new law, but did not confirm if the law had been employed more than once.

The BBC was able to see the results at an undisclosed police storehouse in western Germany. The stash has been kept much as it was found. The dinghies, that officials say measure approximately 9m (29ft), are deflated and mainly packaged up in cardboard boxes.

When the National Crime Agency first revealed the raids had happened, it was estimated that the equipment could have taken more than 2,000 residents across the Channel – which would work out to concerning 65 people per dinghy.

In June.

That number is less than the so-called mega dinghies seen this summer but matches recent averages as well as the general trend of rising passenger numbers.

The deflated dinghies are packaged in cardboard boxes
As there is an “additional incentive for smugglers to fit as many people as possible into available boats”.

Oxford’s Migration Observatory believes the emergence of these mega dinghies is likely connected to climbed enforcement.

Gangs are prone to adapt – rather than abandon – their money-making schemes when supply lines are disrupted.

The life jackets in the warehouse are tightly bundled and wrapped in plastic. Their bright orange covers are stuffed with little more than what feels like poly-foam -completely inadequate for the open and unpredictable waters of the English Channel.

The tag has Chinese lettering. Much of the equipment used for small boats is known to be produced there before being transported to Europe, often via Turkey.

A well-known entry point from Turkey into the EU is at the Bulgarian land border.

Customs officials lately found 20 undeclared inflatable dinghies hidden between mattress pads at a Turkish-Bulgarian border crossing. The truck driver had been heading for Germany.

British investigators believe Kurdish criminal networks hold a particularly controlling grip over the small boats business in western Germany – a region that has become a hub for migrants.

According to one German official, gangs operate out of Germany because numerous of them live there.

Western Germany is also close – but not too close – to the more heavily patrolled beaches of northern France from where migrant boats launch.

Much of the equipment used for small boat crossings is produced in China

Local prosecutors warn that German’s amended legal provision is, so far, largely untested.

Lawyer Bernhard Schmeilzl. This person specialises in UK-German law, points out that the legal situation is essentially as it was before Brexit.

However, he believes it will produce a difference, even if stretched German law enforcement agencies may be more likely to focus on domestic matters.

“This now enables the German police to go after these people,” he says. “If they are being notified about such suspicious activity, they will have to investigate.”

Enforcement and migrant sources have told the BBC that the gangs are coming under more pressure in Europe, including in Germany.

Channel crossings overall are on course to be lower this year, but illegal entries into Europe have also been falling.

The UK Home Office says its work with countries like Germany “is bearing fruit”.

The UK government reports a drop of roughly 43% in the number of residents who have made crossings between 1 January and 8 August this year, compared to the same period last year. It attributes this to efforts in disrupting the supply of boats to the gangs, and getting more law enforcement on French beaches.

But opposition politicians have said the decline is due to adverse conditions in the Channel, including wave height – not the direct result of action taken by the administration.

Germany to tighten people-smuggling law in UK deal

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