EXCLUSIVE: A man who brought around 400 people to the UK illegally has defended putting women and children on dangerous dinghies crossing the Channel.
The migrant smuggler spoke to the Express on the condition of total anonymity (Image: Express)
AN ALBANIAN people smuggler has criticised the wave of protests at hotels housing migrants – saying the Government could easily stop the small boats crossing the Channel tomorrow if it truly wanted to.
He claimed it does not because it needs a cheap workforce willing to do undesirable jobs for its “rampant black market” economy.
The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added it was wrong to blame Britain’s fractured communities on immigrants, saying: “I know that the UK is not experiencing a good situation politically and financially.
“But the media are putting the spotlight on the immigrants and making them appear like they are the main problem of the UK, but, in reality, I don’t think they are.”
He added: “I say that because if the Government and police wanted to stop this flow of immigrants, they can do it.
“I don’t believe that the UK lacks the means to stop this type of thing from happening. But I think the UK needs this flow of immigrants, they need this kind of labour force.”
The people smuggler shamelessly admitted earning around £400,000 from putting hundreds of people on dinghies making the perilous Channel crossing to the UK.
Yet he dismissed the protests against hotels housing asylum seekers, saying: “It is a bit laughable.
“I saw the faces of people taking this route, they were young people, hopeless girls and boys risking their life for a better future.
“I don’t think a woman with a toddler can be considered a criminal.”
He also doubted the new laws introduced by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government in an effort to tackle the small boat crisis will work.
The Home Office this month announced a raft of new measures designed to “crack down” on social media content promoting illegal migration from France to the UK.
However, the man said the policies were fundamentally flawed as he, like most of his connections in the trafficking network, were based outside British jurisdiction.
ENGLISH CHANNEL – MARCH 06: An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants crosses the English Channel on Ma (Image: Getty Images)
“I have heard something about this new law but I can’t say I know any proper details. It would be very difficult to affect people here, almost impossible,” he said.
“If people would fear the law, this kind of business would not exist. People who do this job know that they are dealing with something illegal.”
Prior to quitting the callous trade earlier this year, the man claimed to have earned huge sums by sourcing customers for small boat journeys.
He did this by operating a raft of social media accounts that would advertise illegal travel to Britain.
A crime that, under the new laws, will carry a serious sentence.
But the smuggler doubts those doing the job will ever see the inside of a British prison cell because such activities were easy to mask in the vast anonymised world of the internet.
He said: “On social networks everything is dubious, I could buy fake addresses and cell phone numbers on the black market. Everything would get changed every week or month, these things make it difficult to stop.
The smuggler also dismissed Sir Keir’s much-repeated claim that by “smashing” the people trafficking gangs, he can stop the boats arriving.
“We had a network of communication and if you close one platform, the people who do this job will find another way to coordinate with each other,” he explained.
“As far as gangs are concerned, it depends on the policy they will follow, you need more than the effort of a single country to solve this problem.”
An aerial photograph shows inflatable dinghies and outboard engines from small boats (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He suggested the lack of success in stopping small boats coming to Britain, with more than 50,000 having arrived since Labour won the election in May last year, also came from a lack of desire to shut down the flow of migrant workers.
“I believe that they have the capabilities to stop the dinghy boats from departing,” he continued.
“The dinghy boats are not departing from a wide area, there are two or three hotspots. Their route is known. They can be tracked with today’s technology.”
He also highlighted Britain’s rampant black market economy, which he argued was one of the biggest draws for migrants.
“If England was today the perfect country, people would not immigrate there. They would immigrate to Switzerland or some Nordic country. But knowing that England has big gaps, immigrants find it makes it quite a good place to settle.
“The policy followed by your governments has left these big gaps that are filled by immigrants and, let me be clear, I’m not talking only about criminal activities, I’m talking about undocumented employment.
“We all know that a good part of the Albanians in the UK work in construction or other sectors of the economy without papers.”
He added this was hardly a new thing: “We have a history of 30 years of immigration to England from Albania ever since we became a democratic country. We know how things are there.”
And in Albania, he said his previous role facilitating small boat crossings was not seen as criminal activity.
He said: “We are perceived as people who are enabling a path of hope to these people, even though the journey has risks. In the end, almost everything has risks in life.
“These people are in need, that’s why they take the risk of passing the sea with those dinghy boats. They know the problems involved.
“I sometimes read news about people drowning and even after seeing this people still want to take the risk. That to me means that they consider their future hopeless.”
The Home Office has requested the Express hand over the details of the smuggler, but we were only granted the interview on the condition that we were provided with no identifiable details.
A spokesperson added: Since coming to office, this government has already taken decisive action to dismantle organised smuggling operations – securing the arrests of major trafficking ringleaders across Europe.
“In addition to launching the new Border Security Command, we have enhanced the operational strength of both the National Crime Agency and Immigration Enforcement – substantially increasing enforcement activity.
“Within the NCA alone, this has already helped to produce a 40 per cent increase in disruptions of organised immigration crime networks in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24.”
