HUNDREDS of migrants overpowered French police yesterday morning to storm a beach and head to a “taxi-boat” service, which whisked them to the UK.
The Sun was there to witness the scenes in which the unfortunate gendarmes fired tear gas in a desperate and ultimately failed attempt to stop them.
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Even when the team of eight police officers managed to slash the first boat that arrived to pick up the crowd of mostly young people, a second boat arrived 15 minutes later.
The immigrants, mainly from Vietnam and Sudan, boarded the second ship and mockingly greeted the officers as they began their six-hour journey to England.
It was clear that the French authorities cannot cope with the large volume of boats, which, according to insiders, the smugglers run as a “taxi service” to Kent.
A French police source told us: “It is an impossible task: there are too many boats now.
“It’s like playing whack-a-mole.
“You stop one ship and then another comes.”
Our team of reporters had seen the migrants hiding in the sand dunes of Gravelines, about ten miles from Calais, waiting for the first boat.
Once the boat approached the shore, police immediately pursued it in two high-speed buggies, firing tear gas as they approached.
A middle-aged woman screamed as she struggled to climb onto the inflatable boat, which was wobbling under the immense weight of its human cargo.
The human traffickers threw the men into the sea when they realized they were being held back.
In the panic, waves brought the boat closer to shore, where a police officer managed to deflate it by stabbing its rubber hull with a knife.
In the melee, men temporarily blinded by the gas tried to wash their faces in the sea, while others fell to the ground in coughing fits.
One traveler, a teenager from Sudan, did not get up after reaching the beach.
His friend called for an ambulance.
He claimed that a thief had stabbed him at a campsite the night before.
A police officer told us how two people smugglers were fighting for their lives after being shot last night during a cross-country shootout.
Violence is rife in the “Jungle,” a 1,000-person tented slum a 15-minute drive away, where most migrants live before attempting to cross the channel.
He said: “There was a disagreement between groups fighting for control.
“We have witnesses from Kurdistan who saw how it unfolded.”
Such is hell for many migrants who are willing to risk their lives crossing into Britain.
A sign on the beach informs us of Dartford, Kent, which is 143km away.
cat and mouse
Police were pictured laughing after foiling the first attempt yesterday morning, but the illegals had the last laugh after quickly regrouping and heading to a new spot on the beach.
A game of cat and mouse ensued, before the group of dozens of men and a few women headed to another boat on the shore.
Despite the police’s efforts with tear gas, this time they were unable to stop the migrants who boarded the ship and headed to England.
About five human traffickers, suspected of being from Kurdistan and Iraq, orchestrated the boarding and calmly returned to the dunes.
Some of the Vietnamese passengers said they had paid £10,000 each to receive VIP service from these men.
But some trespassers from Africa told us they didn’t pay anything.
The police merely observed and made no arrests.
Discarded items such as trainers, bags and life jackets lay strewn on the beach, commonly used by dog walkers, tourists and people on active holidays.
It comes just days after a doomed journey in Wimereux, which left five migrants dead, including seven-year-old Sara from Kuwait.
The Sun revealed she was on a crowded boat on Tuesday with her older brother, sister and parents when the tragedy occurred a few hundred meters out to sea.
Police said about 50 of the 112 people on board fell into the sea, and some were trapped under the ship’s hull.
It was the last of several attempts the Kuwaiti family had made to try to reach Britain on a small boat.
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They are believed to be part of a larger Kuwaiti group that has been in northern France since before Christmas.
Previous attempts to reach the UK illegally have failed due to bad weather and lack of space on a boat.
Two 22-year-old men have been charged with immigration offenses as part of an investigation into the migrants’ deaths, the National Crime Agency said.
The two-mile-long stretch of beach is perfect for migrants trying to evade police.
‘Taxi service’
And smugglers are using a new “taxi service” in which they send a boat up the coast to pick up groups of travelers, rather than ordering them to ferry boats from the beach to the sea.
It allows immigrants to run much faster and take authorities by surprise.
Yesterday the police used high-speed vehicles and drones, but in the end they seemed powerless.
A French Navy warship was seen in the distance, but did not react as it left.
Immigrants usually traveled only in the early hours of the morning.
But here they have become so brazen that they continued until around 9am.
Evading police, these migrants board often unseaworthy vessels, at enormous cost and risking their lives.
Marco Longhi
A police officer told us how people smugglers are so confident about making the journey to Britain that they even started leaving in the afternoon.
He said: “Migrants are now prepared to travel at any time of the day, depending on the weather.
“They live in Dunkirk and Calais and come to Gravelines the night before and sleep in the woods. They are always excited to leave.
“On Tuesday afternoon they put the boat in the canal and went out into the canal.”
Local residents tipped us off that the migrants were hiding in the nearby dunes.
When we visited, we found tarps, ropes and oil drums.
Conservative MP Marco Longhi said last night: “French President Emmanuel Macron needs to rein in his police officers patrolling the beaches and make more efforts to stop the boats.
“By evading police, these migrants board often unseaworthy vessels, at enormous cost and risking their lives.”
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