French police are believed to be planning to use 30-metre nets to snare migrant boats in the Channel – despite warnings that the tactic is so dangerous it could kill people.
The drastic new method comes after more than 39,000 migrants reached Britain this year in flimsy dinghies, piling pressure on Paris to stop departures from its northern beaches.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced plans over the summer to change maritime rules to allow officers to intercept vessels at sea. But the plan was delayed amid fears the manoeuvres could end in tragedy.
It has now emerged that specialist teams from France’s maritime gendarmerie have already been issued with so-called ‘arresting nets’, which expand across the water to clog propellers and force boats to stop.
A source said the nets could be used in the ‘fight against illegal immigration’, alongside operations targeting drug trafficking gangs.
According to reports in Le Monde and investigative outlet Lighthouse, between five and six patrol teams are expected to operate along the coastline, each backed by a French Navy vessel in case assistance is needed.
Training documents from one supplier claim the devices can ‘neutralise’ several boats at once, either by blocking their engines or forcing them to change direction.
Another commercial document for the same company boasts that the nets can be used to ‘capture and immobilise high-speed vessels’.
But French coastguard official Rémi Vandeplanque, from the Solidaires Douanes union, warned the tactic would spark panic on overcrowded dinghies and almost certainly lead to fatalities.
‘There are usually at least 50 people on board, sometimes more. Whatever you do, you will create panic or distress, and one day there will be a disaster,’ he said, adding, ‘there is no way to do it safely’.
Most deaths in the Channel now occur close to the French shoreline, often due to drowning or suffocation aboard dangerously packed vessels.
Twenty-six people have died attempting the crossing so far this year, according to French data.
In a letter sent on September 30, the Solidaires Douanes union branded the interception plans ‘inhumane’ and ‘absurd’, warning they risked triggering shipwrecks for which officers could face criminal prosecution.
Sources within the French Ministry of the Interior admit gendarmes are deeply uneasy.
One said police ‘want guarantees’ about legal protection, while another insisted ‘no magistrate will agree to give the police carte blanche.’
During a meeting of senior maritime officials on November 10, authorities agreed that interceptions could only be carried out if officers first prove the boat is not a leisure or fishing vessel and appears to be heading to collect migrants.
Even then, deaths could still lead to prosecutions.
The controversy comes as France faces mounting pressure from the UK to take tougher action on small boats.
British funding for Channel security is due to be renegotiated in March – and London is said to be demanding stronger enforcement at sea before releasing more cash.
French officials say so-called ‘taxi boats’ will be the first to be targeted. These vessels run along the coast, stopping at multiple points to pick up migrants who wade into the surf to board, avoiding police patrols on the beaches.
More than 56 per cent of arrivals so far in 2025 travelled on such boats, according to French data.
