VIDEO. “We join together and we are going to buy a boat”: migrants bypass smugglers to reach England – Franceinfo

Several times a week, Serge Cousin gets up before dawn to retrieve his fishing net on the beaches of La Slack, in Pas-de-Calais. And, more and more more often, he comes across groups of migrants, who are trying to get away. “At night, especially, we see them when the sea is calm “, tells the fisherman of Wimereux. One morning, one of their boats was even caught in its net.

While the team of “20 Hours “talks with Serge Martin, a group of migrants emerges from behind the dunes. Dozens of people carry an inflatable boat at arm’s length and head straight for the English Channel. Overloaded, the boat is struggling to pass the first waves. There are more than 40 on board and all of them are Iraqis. About thirty others remain on the beach. “We want to go to Great Britain “, explains one of them. But for lack of money, without a life jacket, they preferred to wait.

A young Sudanese says he has already attempted the crossing three times. Its means do not allow it to pay smugglers. “Us, we make a group of 10-11 people, we join together and we buy a boat. But often the problem is that we can’t even start the engine. ‘try and the police arrive, they take our things. “