STEMMING the flow of migrants at the source is crucial in the fight against small boat crossings, the Foreign Secretary has said.
The Sun was given exclusive access to see the work being done to stop the tide of migrants before they leave North Africa.
British taxpayers are supporting £5 million worth of initiatives in Tunisia and supplying drones and night vision goggles to intercept potential migrant vessels leaving the coast.
In the previous year, the British-trained Tunisian National Guard apprehended 66,000 individuals and returned them to Tunisia before they could make the 60km journey to Italy.
Many migrants enter Tunisia from Libya and Algeria, aiming to reach Italy, which is a day’s voyage by boat from the Tunisian port of Sfax.
Migrants from countries such as Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea then make the treacherous journey across Europe which ends with them attempting to cross the English Channel to arrive in the UK.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told The Sun: “We have to do all we can, working with international partners because the United Kingdom possibly cannot do it on our own, following these routes and at each stage intervene and try to smash the gangs.
“What we’ve seen from this government in six months is a lot of activity, a lot of threats. Just a few weeks ago I announced sanctions, a sanctions policy that freezes some of those gang leaders, and some of their enablers, their bank accounts, or issues travel bans, which disrupts some of the trade.
“What we’ve seen today are things that we can do on the security side, things we can do with Tunisia, returning people to their country of origin, work we can do upstream. So the truth is, we are fighting on many, many different fronts.
“That is how you reduce the numbers over time. No gimmicks, just hard grind to get those numbers down and smash the criminality that exists behind it.”
Mr Lammy added that he hopes Britain will crackdown on small boat crossings just like we “had to bear down on the slave trade”.
Travelling with the Foreign Secretary and the new Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, The Sun saw the high tech equipment supplied to prevent smuggling gangs exploiting vulnerable people.
Tunisia is a key transit country for migrants from sub Saharan Africa who want to make their way to Europe – paying criminal gangs thousands for dangerous routes.
Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt: “I said from the very beginning when I took over the role that the only way we are going to be successful is if we project our border away from northern France.
“At that point, we are effectively defending a goal line. For me, upstream working is absolutely critical.
“What we saw today, the kind of Home Office activity that we saw there with the drones and the equipment, which is all about saving lives at sea and helping them to do that, is absolutely critical.
“Every movement that isn’t happening through that route is not finding its way up through Europe and ultimately to the Channel.”
Since August, British border officials have been providing specialist training to Tunisian authorities including drone training and instructions on how to safely disrupt a dangerous crossing.
The UK has also provided the Tunisians with vital equipment including armoured life jackets to keep the border officials safe when they intercept boats of migrants who sometimes carry machetes or throw rocks.
Surveillance drones are also used to patrol the coastline which is being exploited by Tunisian gangs.
Other projects run by the British embassy include education projects to provide migrants with the skills to return to their home countries and find employment, instead of carrying on to Europe.
This year alone more than 1,000 people have arrived in Dover on small boats despite Labour’s promise to smash the gangs and drive down numbers.
The visit follows the introduction of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to Parliament, which includes measures to help authorities intercept smuggling gangs earlier.
