Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangs
German authorities have conducted their first raids under a new law targeting smuggling gangs that use Germany as a staging ground for small boat crossings to the UK. Police seized thousands of life jackets and inflatable boats intended for illegal migrant transport.
Why it matters
This represents a significant shift in European cooperation to combat human trafficking and illegal migration routes into the UK.
Image caption, Thousands of life jackets, covered in plastic wrapping, were seized by the German authorities in the spring
Germany has carried out its first raids under a new law to crack down on smugglers using the country as a staging post for small boat crossings on the English Channel, the BBC has learned.
More than 9,000 life jackets, dozens of dinghies and engines and 360 pumps were seized by police this spring during a joint operation involving the UK, France and Germany in the North Rhine-Westphalia region.
The dinghies and equipment are now being stored at a secret location that the BBC was given special access to.
The boats could have taken more than 2,000 migrants across the Channel illegally, according to the UK's National Crime Agency.
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