Border Force now a ‘taxi service’ for people smugglers charging £8,749 to get into Britain
EXCLUSIVE: Frank Furedi accused ministers of wasting billions of pounds propping up the EU’s “failed migration and asylum policies”.
An overloaded boat attempts to cross the English Channel (Image: Getty)
The UK Border Force is now effectively acting as a “taxi service” for criminal people-smugglers who openly charge up to £8,749 a head to deliver illegal migrants into Britain, a Brussels-based expert has claimed. Frank Furedi, Executive Director of MCC Brussels, said the accusation is backed by hard evidence in Europol’s just-published ninth annual report, which for the first time maps precise smuggling routes and price lists targeting the United Kingdom.
He said the document proves that, as successive Tory and Labour governments have lost control of the borders, people-smuggling has ballooned from a “veritable industry” into a full-blown “growth industry”. He declared: “Instead of smashing the criminal gangs, the UK Border Force acts as a taxi service for their illegal clients. In effect, British officialdom has become complicit in the growth of mass migration.”
Foreign Secretary Shabana Mahmood (Image: Getty)
The latest available data shows that the number of people attempting the illegal crossing has continued to surge. As of November 2025, more than 39,292 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year, already surpassing the total for all of 2024, which recorded about 37,000 arrivals.
This increase slowed after the summer months, but the total for 2025 remains nearly 20% higher than the corresponding figure for 2024, although it is still below the record set in 2022. Since 2018, more than 190,430 migrants have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The Europol report stresses that these are highly sophisticated, structured, and increasingly global organisations. The networks are decentralised, with leadership and key operatives often based outside the EU, enabling them to remain operational even when one part of the criminal chain is dismantled.
Such global reach allows them to tailor their business models easily and respond dynamically to external factors, including policy developments, law enforcement activities, and emerging crises.
Small boats and dinghies used to cross the English Channel (Image: Getty)
The Europol report highlights routes to Britain costing between £1,312 (€1,500) and £8,749 (€10,000), with one advertised package offering “smuggling with fraudulent documents from various EU countries to Ireland by air and to the UK over land” for around £6,999 (€8,000). Networks routinely bundle forged passports, safe houses and transport into premium all-in-one services.
Criminal networks are also aggressively exploiting the digital domain. They are using social media platforms as the primary gateway for advertising facilitation services and first contact. They rely on encrypted messaging platforms, which they perceive as a “safe environment” for communication, and even use AI-generated advertisements in multiple languages.
Furthermore, Europol has observed a growing shift toward using cryptocurrencies to transfer smuggling fees. Some systems have begun integrating crypto assets, relying on crypto brokers or cash couriers, which makes the financial trails highly decentralised and layered.
The price list for fraudulent documents alone underscores the complexity of these services, ranging from as little as £437 (€500) for a forged ID card up to £4,375 (€5,000) for a counterfeit passport.
