Illegal migrants are no longer arriving solely by boat. Many are now smuggling themselves—or being smuggled in an organised manner—into the United Kingdom hidden inside lorries. People smugglers are exploiting the fact that border authorities are primarily focused on ports and lack the resources to continuously monitor all vehicles and migration routes.

The number of illegal migrants smuggling themselves into the UK in lorries at Channel ports has surged by nearly a quarter in the past year.
As small boat crossings have increased sharply, so have border checks. As a result, migrants have been found sneaking into the back of lorries in an attempt to deceive border force units.

Last year, 5,874 migrants arrived at ports on the continent such as Calais, Dunkirk, and Coquelles—representing a 22 per cent increase compared to the 4,794 intercepted in 2023. Arrests of illegal workers rose by over 50 per cent year-on-year.

The figure is suggested to be higher as the number of stowaways reaching Britain is harder to track than migrants crossing the Channel.

More than 44,000 people are known to have arrived in the UK illegally last year, through small boats, in the back of lorries, using fake documents and hiding in car boots. Estimates suggest that by the end of this year, that number could reach or even exceed 50,000.

Small boat arrivals made up 86 per cent in the year to March, totalling 38,023.

Smuggling in lorries returns

Smuggling in lorries was the primary method of entering the UK illegally up until 2018.
Migrants, most often coming from Spain, would hide in the back of lorries and jump off near a Sainsbury’s distribution centre in Charlton, South East London. A recent incident followed this same pattern: British police arrested nine illegal migrants, and a further four under-18s were put under the care of social services.

Illegal migrants smuggling themselves to UK in lorries SURGES as criminals ‘exploit’ budget cuts to Border Forcehttps://t.co/LQe5JlrLma

— GB News (@GBNEWS) June 7, 2025

„A few of us were standing around the yard when a driver from an outside company delivering goods from Spain came in. He parked, opened the back door of his lorry up, and out came around a dozen immigrants,”

said one witness, adding:

„They started running around the yard trying to get out, but they didn’t get very far. Someone from the office noticed and the managers came out and were trying to contain them all. I don’t think the lorry driver had a clue they were in his vehicle. It took everyone by surprise.”

A spokesman for Wincanton, which operates the distribution centre, said they are co-operating with the authorities and are also trying to determine how many migrants may have entered the UK in this manner, according to GB News.

UK authorities lack resources to monitor all migration routes continuously and instead rely on random checks Photo: AFP

There are currently more illegal male migrants of fighting age in the UK than there are soldiers, wrote The Telegraph, highlighting that the government is spending significant sums to house asylum seekers—often in hotels.

At the end of May, 1,200 migrants arrived in the UK in a single day.

National security you say? Bolstering British defence?
So many unvetted illegal, war fighting age males with completely non compatible values and 7th century mindsets arrived yesterday, that Border Force and RNLI boats had to fucking queue at Dover to deliver them. pic.twitter.com/845vZXl1Wv

— Marcus (@Marcus___007) June 1, 2025

Rising immigration brings increased terrorism risk

In 2020, MI5 reported that 90 per cent of individuals on the terrorism watchlist were jihadists. Most migrants arriving in the UK by sea and road come from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and North Africa.