TikTok used by ruthless Albanian people smugglers to sell new route from Spain to Portsmouth
Social media platform TikTok is being used by ruthless Albanian people smugglers to sell a new route from Spain to Portsmouth, according to reports.
Albanian gangs are offering to smuggle people in lorries from Santander on the north coast of Spain into Portsmouth for £14,000 per person via ferry as an alternative to small boats across the Channel or via ferry or Eurostar from northern France.
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People smugglers usually charge between £3,000 and £5,000 to cross the Channel in dinghies, but the new route is being promoted as less dangerous and avoids improved border security.
The path means migrants are less likely to be picked up, identified and deported back to Albania. Those crossing the Channel on small boats are taken by Border Force for processing by immigration officials at Manston near Dover with the prospect of being deported after the UK struck a returns deal with Albania last year.
TikTok has reportedly removed all the videos and closed down the accounts that were selling the new route.
It comes as the number of illegal migrants trying to get into the UK through Portsmouth has increased, according to an immigration investigator. They told The Telegraph: “If they arrive on a small boat, they know that they are likely to be sent back to Albania. They know their asylum claim will be refused so they don’t register with the Home Office. In order to pay the huge sum of money for getting into the UK, many get involved in cannabis farms.”
It comes as six people died in an overcrowded dinghy heading from France to the UK on Saturday morning.