Undercover on a migrant dinghy: French police help the smugglers | The Daily T podcast

In Tuesday’s episode of The Daily T, Camilla Tominey speaks with investigative journalist Isabel Oakeshott and undercover reporter Christian Drogan following their year-long operation to infiltrate people-smuggling networks in northern France. Christian describes his seven-hour journey across the English Channel alongside 35 migrants, revealing how armed gangs operated with near impunity in French camps and migrants discarded their phones at sea to avoid detection. Isabel details the security risks and planning required to get a British reporter on to a migrant dinghy, and describes the Channel crossings as a “national security emergency” that is not represented accurately by official figures. Subscribe to the NEW Daily T YouTube: channel https://www.youtube.com/@dailytpodcast Chapters 00:00 - Undercover on a Channel Migrant Boat 01:20 - The Daily T Podcast Channel Update 01:50 - Isabel Oakeshott: Planning the Undercover Mission 04:23 - Why Infiltrate Human Smuggling Networks? 05:58 - Hostility and Inaction of French Police 08:08 - Home Office & Border Force Reactions 10:05 - National Security & Criminal Networks 11:47 - Christian Drogon: From Builder to Undercover Reporter 13:04 - Inside Calais & Dunkirk Migrant Camps 15:29 - Armed Criminals & Gunfire in Plain Sight 17:41 - Creating the Undercover Cover Story 21:11 - Smuggler Fees & Asylum Hotel Reality 24:22 - Beach Chaos: Near Drownings & Children at Risk 28:43 - Flawed Statistics on Prevented Crossings 31:05 - How Boats Launch Offshore 35:38 - TikTok & Social Media Role in Human Trafficking 37:26 - The 7-Hour Channel Crossing 41:18 - Intercepted by UK Border Force 43:44 - Throwing Phones Overboard to Destroy Evidence 44:26 - Will Government Ever Stop the Small Boats? DailyTPodcast TheTelegraph ChannelCrossings SmallBoats IllegalImmigration IsabelOakeshott ChristianDrogon UKNews BorderForce CalaisMigrants Dunkirk HumanTrafficking UndercoverInvestigation UKPolitics CamillaTominey ► Sign up to the Telegraph's free new daily newsletter, From the Editor, bringing you the latest news, features and analysis from the Telegraph newsroom: www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/secure/newsletter/from-the-editor/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain ► Get the latest headlines: www.telegraph.co.uk?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain ► Stay ahead with a Telegraph digital subscription: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/subscription/store?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_telegraphmain https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ and https://www.youtube.com/telegraph are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.