TNA investigation: UK-backed French small boats tactics 'deadly'

As the UK announced support for French police intercepting and slashing migrant boats with Macron in London for a state visit, a tactic that experts and campaigners say will put scores of migrant lives at risk, a new investigation by The New Arab revealed a stark case of French police failure to save a drowning Syrian migrant.

Jumaa al-Hasan, a young Syrian man, drowned on the night between 2 and 3 March 2024 in the north of France, during an attempted police interception. The investigation reveals that, despite the proximity of officers on shore and repeated warnings from those travelling with Jumaa al-Hasan, the police did nothing to save the 27-year-old. In the aftermath of his death, the fire brigade carried out only a minimal search.

Our one-year-long investigation - co-published with French investigative outlet Disclose, French NGO Index and Italian research centre Liminal - used 3D digital modelling to reconstruct the circumstances of Jumaa’s death.

The investigation raises questions about the precarious nature of attempted crossings in the Channel, the responsibilities of the French police and the shortcomings of the emergency services. As in many similar cases, official probes appear to look the other way, by focussing only on smuggling networks, an approach now endorsed by the UK despite its implications for human rights.

This comes as French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Britain on Tuesday for a state visit which will include talks about on migration. At a summit on Thursday, senior government officials from the two countries will discuss small-boat crossings, a thorny issue for successive governments on both sides of the channel.

British officials have been pushing for French police to intervene more forcefully to stop the boats, and welcomed the sight of officers slashing rubber dinghies with knives in recent days. 

Britain is also pushing France to let officers intervene against boats in deeper waters, a change the government in Paris is considering. UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the French are “bringing in important new tactics to stop boats that are in the water.” 

Campaigners for migrants’ rights and a police union warn that doing so could endanger both migrants and officers. Dozens have already died trying to cross the channel.

The UK has already struck a series of deals with France over the years to increase patrols of beaches and share intelligence in an attempt to disrupt the smuggling gangs, which have had a limited impact. About 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in 2024, the second-highest annual figure after 46,000 in 2022. More than 20,000 people made the crossing in the first six months of 2025, up by about 50 percent from the same period last year. 

Starmer’s right-wing opponents seized on the data, reminding the prime minister of his pledge to “smash the gangs” behind organised people-smuggling. 

Migrants have increasingly been recruited by smugglers to pilot the dinghies that take people from across the channel and are therefore often considered smugglers themselves.

Articles 5 and 6 of the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants, to which both France and the UK are signatories, prohibit the use of anti-smuggling legislation against migrants.

Read the full investigation below.