UK Border Force detains 49 suspected illegal immigrants at Dover

Home Office officials have confirmed 49 suspected illegal migrants made it to UK shores on Saturday morning, the latest arrivals take the number who have been detained so far this year to 285.

Six men were initially caught making the crossing in a brand-new grey, yellow and blue rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) amid calm and mild conditions in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Two more boat crossings quickly followed, carrying 43 people from France to the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile on the French side officials managed to prevent 92 people from making the crossing.

Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts Chris Philp said: ‘Overnight the French authorities stopped 215 migrants from crossing from France to the UK, through the joint operational and intelligence deployment shared by our two countries.

‘The Government continues to undertake substantial measures to tackle this unacceptable problem of illegal migration.

‘In January we introduced new rules which mean we can treat asylum claims as inadmissible if they have travelled through safe countries to get to the UK.

‘Criminals are exploiting migrants for-profit and are selling false dreams of life in the UK.

‘These crossings are illegal which is why we are pursuing the criminals behind these crossings, returning migrants who have no right to stay in the UK to safe countries and will continue to do everything we can to make this route unviable.’

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