The French have at long last started to intercept small boats full of migrants heading to the UK.
The Telegraph reports they were informed by sources within the French interior ministry they will target the “taxi boats” withing 300 metres of the beaches.
Under the French proposals six new patrol boats will rescue migrants from the water and will intercept the small boats heading to make the English Channel crossing for the UK.
A French interior ministry source told The Telegraph, “We are aware of the high stakes involved in interventions at sea and of the need to adapt our doctrine of action.
“Today, our intervention can only take place to rescue a boat already at sea, in particular because of the criminal liability issues associated with any interception carried out for any other reason.
“We would like to change this framework so that we can operate in shallow waters, up to 300 metres from the coast, and thus intercept ‘taxi boats‘, while respecting the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as the Montego Bay Convention.”
