Channel migrants: Boats carrying 90 migrants intercepted off Kent coast

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Border Force patrol boatImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

Border Force picked up 90 migrants in six vessels off the Kent Coast

Six boats carrying 90 migrants have been intercepted off the Kent coast.

The Home Office said 79 men and 11 women had crossed the Channel on Saturday 16 May on small boats.

A spokesman said the migrants travelled from France and were taken to Dover, where they were medically assessed.

Where appropriate, immigration officials will detain some of them, while others will be sent back to France, the spokesman added.

He said: "These attempted crossings are reckless acts facilitated by criminals that we are determined to stop.

"The crossings are often organised by dangerous criminal gangs.

"Our priority will always be arresting and dismantling the organised crime gangs behind these crossings."

The migrants presented themselves as Sudanese, Libya, Syrian, Iranian, Senegalese, Iraqi, Yemeni, Kuwaiti and Algerian, the Home Office said.

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