Scores of people smuggling gangs are still posting social media adverts despite promise of crackdown
- It was revealed gangs are charging £2,5000 to smuggle criminals out of Britain
Scores of people smuggling gangs are still openly advertising on social media despite the Government and big tech firms promising a crackdown.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week trumpeted a voluntary agreement with social media companies meant to ensure the brazen promotions that ‘lure’ migrants on to small boats ‘never see the light of day’.
TikTok, Twitter and Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – all signed up to the initiative announced on Sunday, in which they pledged to increase co-operation with the National Crime Agency to find and remove the criminal content.
But a Daily Mail investigation after the announcement found dozens of people smuggler gangs continuing to advertise a range of illegal routes to Britain by dinghy, lorry and plane, with one promising, ‘we will send you to the King’.
Some used footage of migrants launching small boats for the perilous cross-Channel journey urging new customers to get in touch for a similar £3,000 ‘secret’ trip on their ‘latest route’.
People smugglers have been using social media apps such as TikTok (pictured) to advertise their services
One advert previously found by the Mail claimed a ‘100% security and guarantee’ to get people into Britain from Belgium
And when an undercover reporter posing as an illegal migrant contacted the gangs, they gave details of places to meet and advice on the best routes.
In a sign of a scale of the people smuggling industry, we also found social media sites offering black market documents to help illegal migration including UK driving licences, and work and resident permits.
READ MORE HERE: The Albanian people smuggling gangs providing RETURN journeys to help criminals escape from Britain in brazen TikTok adverts
Tonight Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Mail’s damning revelations showed ‘dangerous criminal smuggler gangs’ were still ‘making a mockery’ of border security and the criminal justice system.
An undercover reporter who approached a people smuggler’s Instagram page called ‘Boat and aeroplane to the UK’ was told it was £3,500 for a place on a cross Channel dinghy.
The gang member added: ‘We have Channel crossings every day from Dunkirk.’
Another Instagram page called Journey to England promised one departure a week in the cab of a lorry.
A spokesman for Meta said: ‘People smuggling is illegal and where we find content co-ordinating this activity we remove it from our platforms.’
TikTok said it had banned all the sites that were highlighted by the Mail.
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