French authorities will start intercepting small boats in Channel following British demands
French officials have consented to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the English Channel, following months of pressure from the UK.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to back the plan and stating there currently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."
Currently, a French maritime police representative says personnel will start taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been suggested as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a major advancement, coming after a brief shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which ceased when the former government official departed from government.
That was highlighted in the summer month, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were observed wading into the sea to damage the sides of a vessel.
Now French authorities will once more be allowed to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adjust to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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