UK-registered firms linked to payments for small-boat crossings, finds

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. UK-registered firms linked to payments for small-boat crossings, finds15 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleWilliam McLennan ,Colin CampbellandJosie Hannett , Local Investigations Watch: "You put your money here," says shop worker offering to take cash for people smugglersPeople smugglers are directing migrants to pay for illegal Channel crossings using a network of UK-registered businesses, a investigation has found. We secretly filmed staff at a shop in south-east London telling an undercover researcher that nearly £3,000 in cash could be deposited with them and sent to a smuggler in France. "You put your money here.

If your friends reach , you shouldn't come back," we were told at the mobile phone store in Woolwich. Our three-month investigation gives insight into how smugglers appear to be using UK companies' bank accounts to facilitate small-boat crossings - something a leading expert in criminal finance told us he had not seen before. Our findings suggest a "brazen attitude" by smugglers, says Tom Keatinge, from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) security think tank.

The Details

"It is a concern that... people feel sufficiently confident they can be out in the open. "As well as the phone shop, the smuggler in France provided the bank account details of two UK-registered companies, which he said could both take electronic transfers for migrant crossings.

One is a wholesale business in Newcastle upon Tyne, the other is a car wash in Cambridgeshire. The smuggler, who called himself Ahmad, also provided details of several businesses in Europe where payments could be made in cash, including a car wash in Antwerp, Belgium, and a restaurant in Paris, France. He also shared bank details of several individuals in the UK and mainland Europe who, he said, could receive payments.

'When you cross, they transfer to me'We sent an undercover researcher, posing as a migrant trying to cross the Channel illegally with his child, into a migrant camp in Dunkirk. Known as "the jungle", the camp is a scrubby patch of land beside a road and a railway line. It is where many migrants live in tents before attempting to cross the Channel.

What Experts Say

When our researcher visited, sections of the camp were underwater after weeks of rain. Within minutes of arriving, men approached and appeared to be touting for rival gangs. We ended up making contact with two separate smugglers.

Money exchange shops in the UK could take crossing payments, smuggler Zia told us, but he did not specify which onesOne tout took the researcher to meet a smuggler who called himself Zia and said he could book a place on a small boat crossing - a journey referred to as the "game" by smugglers. Money exchange shops in the UK could take payment for the crossing, said Zia, although he did not specify which ones. "In London, they don't give you a receipt.

They call me to say got the money. When you cross, they transfer to me.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.