Smugglers deploy mega-dinghies as Channel crossings surge
BBC’s visual journalism piece shows smugglers switching to much larger boats called “mega-dinghies” to ferry migrants across the English Channel as authorities tighten supply of crossings; in one incident about 140 people were rescued from a single dinghy. The feature also ties the incident to the latest UK migration dashboard data—net migration, asylum, visas and small-boat arrivals—and notes a German police operation targeting these gangs at a European level.