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The deaths of 27 people, including women and children, in the English Channel on Wednesday, has brought into sharp focus the dangerous lengths migrants are prepared to go to reach the UK. Migrants attempting to settle in Europe use people smuggling gangs to help them in their journeys, and there are increasing numbers of attempts to bring people across the Channel in boats.

Tuesday Reitano is Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. She says that a chain of gangs will be involved in taking people across Europe, and the migrants would be passed from one group to another. Links between the gangs have become increasingly established over the last few years, and specialist groups operate certain stages of the journey, such as the Channel crossing. She says the cost of that stage is between 3,000 and 6,000 euros.

"Groups are becoming increasingly more professional, certainly more expensive, and they are taking greater risks."

Photo: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought to the Kent coast, UK, November 2021 Credit: PA

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