A report highlights the growing scale of small-boat crossings of the Channel, focusing on oversized dinghies now used by people-smuggling gangs that are longer than a double-decker bus. These vessels allow traffickers to pack in far more passengers per crossing, significantly boosting the profits smugglers can extract from migrants attempting to reach the UK.

According to the report, each trip using one of these enlarged boats can net traffickers around £300,000, underlining how lucrative and industrialised the smuggling operations have become. The figures point to the financial incentives driving gangs to keep sending overcrowded, unsafe vessels across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, despite the risks to those on board.