A BBC investigation has found people smugglers directing migrants to pay for illegal small-boat Channel crossings through bank accounts and outlets linked to UK-registered companies.
Over three months, reporters posed as migrants and family members and met people touting crossings in and around the Dunkirk camp known as “the jungle.” Within minutes of arriving, the undercover researcher was approached by men offering passage and given contact details for smugglers operating from northern France.
One smuggler, who identified himself as Ahmad and spoke Farsi, told the researcher payments could be sent to three UK companies’ accounts. He also supplied details for several European businesses where cash could be paid, including a car wash in Antwerp and a restaurant in Paris, and gave bank details for individuals both in the UK and on the continent.
Back in the UK, reporters visited a south-east London mobile phone shop, Afg Mobile Repair in Woolwich, after Ahmad named it as a place that could accept money on behalf of smugglers. Secret filming captured staff telling an undercover family member that nearly £3,000 in cash could be deposited with them and transferred to a smuggler in France. A shop worker described a process in which the outlet would notify the smuggler when funds arrived and only transfer money after people had crossed.
The reporters did not hand over any cash. When confronted later, the shop worker denied moving money for smugglers, saying: “We don’t move money… we have only phone shop.” The BBC also identified two other UK-registered firms Ahmad named: a wholesale business in Newcastle and a car wash in Cambridgeshire. All three firms are listed at Companies House. The BBC verified that the bank details Ahmad gave matched accounts connected to the Newcastle and Cambridgeshire businesses. The Newcastle business said it “strongly reject[s] any suggestion that we have knowingly or negligently enabled criminal activity” and would cooperate with authorities; the Cambridgeshire car wash did not respond to requests for comment.
Smugglers told the undercover researcher a crossing for two people would cost about £2,700.
Tom Keatinge of the Royal United Services Institute described the findings as evidence of a “brazen attitude” among people traffickers and said it was alarming that smugglers appeared confident enough to operate openly and use UK bank accounts.
The story comes amid official efforts to “smash the gangs.” But prosecution and asset-recovery figures suggest authorities have struggled to seize the proceeds. Crown Prosecution Service data obtained by the BBC show that since 2020 courts found 45 people smugglers had generated more than £16m in criminal benefit, yet confiscation orders totalled £2.9m and only about £1.6m had been recovered as of February. The National Crime Agency says it has around 100 active investigations into the top tier of gangs and is devoting increased resources to the problem.
NCA deputy director Dan Cannatella-Barcroft said the agency was working to make the UK a harder place for smugglers to operate. Migration minister Mike Tapp told the BBC there is extensive investigative work behind the scenes, including on money transfers, and that law enforcement must keep pace with constantly changing criminal methods.
When contacted by the BBC, the smuggler Ahmad denied involvement in people smuggling. Another smuggler contacted during the investigation did not respond to requests for comment.
The BBC’s reporting highlights how cash payments and transfers to UK-registered businesses may be being used to facilitate dangerous crossings, and underlines the challenges law enforcement faces in tracing and recovering profits from people-smuggling networks.
