Drug gangs use migrant camps in northern France as recruiting grounds | Abroad

According to figures from the British government, Albanians make up about a third of the nearly 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year. Police and immigration officials on both sides of the Channel are concerned about the growing role of Albanian intermediaries in facilitating the crossing.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused the UK of scapegoating its fellow citizens to justify its “failing policies” on borders and migration.

In the French city of Dunkirk, eyewitnesses this summer said Albanians occupied most of the main migrant camp there. Small hotels around Dunkirk station are now established stopping points for Albanian migrants: their doors closed permanently, no staff in sight, a phone number taped to the window 24 hours a day. This is a place where Albanian intermediaries wait for customers.

It is easy for Albanian citizens to get to northern France; they have the right to enter the EU as tourists for up to three months without a visa. Most come by bus or car, spurred on by social media ads promising help from on-site intermediaries in Brussels, Paris, Calais or Dunkirk.

A French official dealing with the area confirmed that Albanians are currently playing the role of intermediaries, linking Albanian migrants to Iraqi-Kurdish smuggling gangs. He said unofficially that Iraqi-Kurdish networks currently run 80% of small boat operations, but that French authorities are concerned about the prospect of Albanians setting up their own independent operations, risking violent conflict between the groups.

According to the British government, 12,000 Albanians have arrived in small boats this year, almost all of them young men traveling alone. Albanian residents say that 70% of the local population has already left for England. Economic opportunities remain the main driver for making the crossing. Corruption is a systematic problem in Albania. In addition, Eurostat’s 2018 figures compare the average income in Albania (€1,997) with the UK, where it is 10 times higher (€21,464).

Albanian people smuggling networks existed in France long before the crossing by boat started. For decades, Albanian intermediaries in France and Belgium hid their compatriots in trucks bound for the UK. Huge British and French investments in stronger ferry port security have now made that route more difficult and more expensive.

Boat crossings cost less than half the price of a truck crossing and social media is full of testimonials from those who made the crossing. Each new arrival inspires another to begin.