Refugees increasingly using small boats to slip into UK undetected

'It’s impossible to patrol 2,000 miles of UK coastline. This is a new threat for us'

Officials warn refugees are increasingly arriving in Britain via the country's vast coastline, such as here at the beach town of Broadstairs in Kent

A British tour boat operator says he has rescued scores of refugees from the English Channel in the past year, warning that the problem of small migrant boats slipping into the UK undetected is getting worse.

James Salmon, the owner of Dover Sea Safari, told Sky News people smugglers are increasingly chartering tiny vessels to make the treacherous journey across major shipping lanes.

Three Iranian refugees were intercepted by the UK Border Force on Tuesday alone, after their boat was spotted by a passing ferry.

And Tony Smith, former director of the borders agency, told the broadcaster there was a “new and emerging threat” in the Channel, the likes of which we are most used to seeing in the Mediterranean.

“It’s impossible to patrol 2,000 miles of UK coastline. This is a new threat for us,” he said.

“It is something we need to respond to.”

But he added that it was not just a matter to be laid “at the door of the Border Force”.

“What is required is collaboration between all of the agencies… to make sure that our resources are properly commanded, properly controlled to enable us to eliminate this new and emerging threat.”

Officials said the boat carrying three Iranian nationals was intercepted by a Border Force cutter after the Maritime and Coastguard Agency sounded the alarm at 5.30am.

The three, all of whom were wearing life jackets, have since been taken to Dover where they will be processed by Home Office staff.

It comes after a boat carrying 18 Albanian migrants, two of them children, was met by officials off the coast of Kent. Two British men have been charged with people-smuggling offences.