Planes with radars, sensors and high-tech cameras to patrol the Channel 24/7 to spot small boat migrants
28 November 2024, 09:25
The Home Office has hired two planes to patrol the Channel, using radar, sensor and high-tech cameras to spot migrants making the crossing to the UK.
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The Home Office is already using one De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft to patrol, which is said to have resulted in valuable intelligence that has enabled the prosecution of people smugglers.
But one plane on its own cannot provide permanent coverage of the Channel, prompting officials to hire a second aircraft.
The cost of hiring the two planes comes to £34 million, the Telegraph reported.
The second aircraft is expected to be operational by next spring.
Together the two planes will be able to patrol for 4,000 hours a year, which is expected to be enough to cover the 200 days of good seafaring weather when migrants cross the Channel.
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When they are not patrolling the Channel they will be helping the UK's Border Security Command in other ways.
The planes will form part of a so-called 'mini-airforce' monitoring the Channel that also includes drones, whose operations are supported by artificial intelligence.
Some 33,000 people have crossed the UK in the first 11 months of the year, already more than the whole of 2023, but down from the peak in 2022, when 45,728 people crossed.
Some 70 people have died while making the crossing.
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Labour axed the Conservatives' controversial plan to transport illegal immigrants to Rwanda for asylum processing as soon as they came to office.
This prompted criticism from the Tories, who claimed Keir Starmer had got rid of a deterrent that was discouraging migrants from coming to the UK illegally.
Labour said that instead they would empower border officials and intelligence operatives to "smash" people-smuggling gangs at source, working with other European governments.
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Starmer said on Thursday that the Government is working with other countries to tackle small boat crossings.
Asked why he thought he would be able to tackle the problem, he said: "We are working with other countries on law enforcement to take down the gangs that are running this trade.
"So behind these boat crossings are gangs that are making a huge amount of money getting people to travel to the north coast of France, putting them in boats and charging them a fortune for doing so."
Asked how his approach to the issue would make a difference to the crossings, Sir Keir added: "Because what we're doing is working to take down the people that are running this trade, putting people on the boats in the first place."
