French authorities have intercepted a migrant boat at sea for the first time, part of a plan to reduce the flow of migrants to Britain, the BBC reports.
French police on the 17th of December intercepted a so-called “taxi-boat” in the channel north of Calais, which connects to the English Channel. It marks a change in tactics in the fight against people smugglers and follows increased pressure from Britain to take stronger action to reduce the flow of migrants.
French authorities have not commented, saying only that an investigation into the small, inflatable boat is underway.
France agreed to change its approach to catching people smugglers and migrants during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July. Until now, French police had only intercepted small boats while they were still on the beaches, as intercepting them on the water was considered too dangerous.
But smugglers had learned to evade police by using “taxi-boats”
that were launched a short distance into the water and then sailed along the coast, picking up migrants who had to get into the water themselves. According to official statistics, this method proved highly successful, with 81% of such crossings being successful in 2025.
Last year, 41,472 people reached British shores from France, up from 2024 but down from the peak of migration in 2022.
After an agreement was reached to intercept the boats on the water, the operation was repeatedly postponed due to concerns about the threat to life and the possibility of facing prosecution if someone died during the operation. The issues now appear to have been resolved. The terms of the agreement stipulate that police will only intervene if the smugglers have not yet picked up migrants.
This was also the case on the 17th of January. Police suspected that an inflatable boat heading seaward along the canal was preparing to pick up migrants, so they stopped it and detained the men on board.
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