The new figures come after a newspaper report claimed many of those crossing the Channel in the past six weeks were economic migrants from Albania and not refugees. The claims have been criticized by charities supporting asylum seekers and victims of trafficking. According to the Mail on Sunday, which published the claim based on a leaked military intelligence report, analysts based at an operations center in Portsmouth used satellites and a fleet of drones to track 70 vessels making the passage over six weeks in June . and July and mapped the beaches from where they were launched. Defense officials believe nine competing organized crime groups are targeting Britain, according to the military intelligence report. The groups smuggled 2,862 migrants across the Channel between June 1 and July 12, with many buying their inflatable boats from manufacturers in China. A total of 1,075 of those crossing were from Albania, a country that reports say is not a war zone. However, charities have disputed the claim that Albania is a safe country despite not being at war, and dispute the claim that those crossing the Channel from Albania are economic migrants. The charity Love146, which works with young victims of human trafficking, tweeted that Albanian youth make up one of the largest groups of children trafficked into the UK each year. The charity added that just because the country was not at war did not mean it was a safe place to return. Lauren Starkey, social worker for the charity, tweeted: “Violence, threat of coercion, deception, debt slavery. All the techniques used to traffic young Albanians into the UK. The country may not be at war, but it is not peaceful or safe for the survivors of this abuse.” A report published on Wednesday by UNHCR and the British Red Cross warned of critical gaps in the UK’s asylum system, meaning people seeking safety in the UK, including those escaping modern slavery , may be at risk of possible exploitation once they arrive in the UK. Home Office freedom of information data obtained by the Scottish Refugee Council earlier this year revealed that in the year ending September 2019, Albanians were the fourth largest nationality group to cross the Channel in small boats after Iranians, Iraqis and Eritreans. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Clare Moseley, the founder of the charity Care4Calais, disputed the Mail on Sunday report and said government figures showed the majority of those crossing the Channel in small boats were refugees. He said: “Recent figures show an acceptance rate of 55% for Albanian refugees, so the claim that they are all economic migrants may be speculative.” He called on the government to take a new approach as current policies had not broken the smugglers’ business model, as Home Secretary Priti Patel had promised they would, and had instead led to record numbers crossing the Channel. “If we issue safe transit visas based on a viable asylum claim check, to other refugees in a similar way to the Ukrainians, it will break the people-smuggler model and save lives.” The Home Office has been approached for comment.
