(AFP) “The moment they are in the boats at sea, they’ve won,” says a French policeman as he looks out across a windswept departure point for migrants heading across the Channel to Britain.
Day and night, military police officers like Maxence, a bearded deputy commander in the Gendarmerie, head out to the dunes and sandy beaches near the northern port of Calais in search of boats.
With the aid of thermal-imaging binoculars, he and a colleague surprised a group of around 80 people a few nights ago as they took delivery of two semi-rigid inflatable dinghies and outboard engines in a forested sea-side spot.
“We were about 200 metres from them when we heard doors slam, and we thought it was the logistics arriving,” he said. “We came out with all our lights and alarms blaring, as well as tear gas just in case we were attacked.”
