At its shortest point, the Kent coast is just 20 miles across the English channel from France.The journey is perilous for small boats, especially because it is a major shipping highway.
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A Home Office spokesman confirmed a woman and two children were aboard the inflatable boat.
There were two British people on board the boat when it started to take on water, but it’s not yet clear if those are the men being charged.
“‘The rhib, with 19 people on board, was located at 2am and the incident handed over to UK Border Force”.
In fact the home secretary, Theresa May, was prepared to send one of her five Border Force cutters to the Mediterranean a year ago to help the European Union intercept people smugglers rather than patrol the British coast.
Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, told the Daily Mail it was a “complete mess” that three Border Force vessels had been left to patrol the UK’s coastline.
The group, including two Britons, was taken to Dover for interviewing by United Kingdom border officials after the rescue.
The complex operation included a search-and-rescue helicopter and lifeboats dispatched from several English ports.
Mr Barron said that even though the smugglers are being given large sums of money, there are not providing suitable transport for a “sea filled with danger, with strong currents, storms and heavy traffic of larger vessels”.
He said: “Unless we take action we are not going to stop people coming across the Channel in increasing numbers as the summer progresses”.
A Coastguard statement said: “The UK Coastguard has co-ordinated an incident off Dymchurch to rescue the occupants of a rhib overnight”.
It’s sparked concerns about the security of the British coastline – and whether people traffickers have found a new route into Europe.
A sea and helicopter rescue was launched off the coast of Kent to reach the migrants, who were traveling with two Britons in a dinghy, the UK Home Office said.
Britain will increase patrols in the English Channel as tough security measures in Calais have led migrants to attempt risky sea crossings from northern France, a Downing Street spokesman said Tuesday.
“We also need co-operation with continental partners to make sure that the sending countries are able to provide that level of security while we look out for our maritime borders”.
On Tuesday, another 17 suspected Albanians, and a British man wanted on suspicion of murder in Spain, were detained after a catamaran arrived at Chichester Marina in West Sussex on Tuesday.
The 17 Albanian men were held on suspicion of entering the United Kingdom illegally and have been detained pending consideration of their cases.
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The fourteen adults – aged between 22 and 46 years of age – were arrested on suspicion of entering the United Kingdom illegally.
