UK companies linked to payments for small boat crossings, BBC finds (UK/France) 18/May/2026

People smugglers are directing migrants to pay for illegal Channel crossings using a network of UK-registered businesses, a BBC 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 [the UK], 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. "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. 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. There is now a crime playlist on the channel if you are interested as well. From October 2024+ (previous crimes videos are in the people playlist). #crime #crimeUK #migrants2026 #illegalmigrants #moneyformigrants #peoplesmuggling