Officers enjoy luxury accommodation and nights out while migrants risk lives crossing the Channel
In an exclusive investigation, Express reporters have shed light on an alarming misuse of UK taxpayer money allocated to improve security measures in Calais, France. The primary aim of these funds is to prevent migrants from making perilous journeys across the Channel to the UK.
“The reality of France’s approach to preventing small boats crossing the Channel is deeply concerning,” an Express reporter commented. “While migrants take dinghies into deadly waters, members of the French police enjoy a night out in Calais.”
The investigation follows a £500 million agreement signed by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last November, which pledged to increase the number of French police officers patrolling the coast. However, Express journalists discovered that rather than staying in modest accommodations, these officers, particularly those from the riot police division known as CRS, are booking out almost the entire four-star B&B Hotel in Calais, costing around £10,000 a night to UK taxpayers.
CRS agents revealed that they work just six hours a day, half the length of their British counterparts. “It’s not our job to stop migrants,” one CRS agent disclosed.
Further findings exposed an unsettling lack of responsibility among some of these officers. For four consecutive nights, the investigation followed off-duty officers indulging in drinking sessions that extended into the early hours. “Heavily intoxicated, they groped women and started fights,” said the report. “Their actions were well known by the locals.”
In contrast to these shocking discoveries, the Home Office stated that the “overwhelming majority of the embedded observers saw officers behave with utmost professionalism” but vowed to investigate the claims.
The French police have declined to comment on the investigation. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Prime Minister stated that they are “in touch with our French counterparts about taking further action.”
With around 2,000 migrants making it to Britain by small boats during the week the investigation was conducted, the revelations raise serious questions about the effectiveness and intent of these police officers in securing the Channel.
“If we truly want to stop the Channel boats and be sure our money is being spent wisely, we need British boots on the ground on these French beaches,” concluded the Express report.
