"There is nothing to stop people smuggling whether by yacht or ferry easy" and "low risk" - Ex=British Soldier

Private marinas have "no more security than a caravan site", one harbourmaster on the Essex coast told us while another said, "there is nothing to stop people smuggling happening".

Dozens of Vietnamese migrants were transported by yacht into private marinas in seaside towns across south-east England, former British soldier revealed.

According to report, the man was convicted and sent to prison in 2019, but we have learned that smugglers are still using similar routes and methods - described by Border Force as "a really concerning risk".

The ex-soldier and smuggler, who we are calling Nick, has also been describing how he smuggled Albanian people in cars on to ferries - and how the migrants then jumped into lorries on the vehicle decks mid-journey in the English Channel.

The smuggling routes whether by yacht or ferry were "easy" and "low risk", Nick told us.

He said he had chosen to speak out now because he was "angry" he had been jailed for a crime that was still very possible to commit. He claimed to know people who, in the past year, had used the same routes and methods as him.

Convicting him was "pointless", he said, if the authorities would not improve security to stop other people smugglers.

Border Force is responsible for securing the 11,000 miles of UK coastline, but the security of harbours and marinas rests with private operators, Charlie Eastaugh, the force's director of maritime, told the BBC.

"We patrol 24/7, we carry out proactive, as well as reactive, operations," he said - citing a luxury yacht, hiding 20 Albanians below deck, that was intercepted en route to Newquay in Cornwall last month.

Nick's story is a particularly striking example of how a British citizen became involved in the international people-smuggling trade.

His "stories and confessions represent a concerning risk posed to the UK around people smuggling and irregular migration at sea", said Border Force's Charlie Eastaugh. We will "look at the vulnerabilities he [Nick] has identified," he added.

Unlike many migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, the majority of those transported by Nick did not want to be found by authorities to formally claim asylum. Having arrived on UK shores, they wanted to disappear anonymously into the black economy. Nick said he had been told the Vietnamese migrants would go on to work on cannabis farms. 

The fact that Nick travelled with them too - skippering a yacht - is also unusual.

It all started in 2009, when an Albanian friend he met on a construction site recruited him - saying Nick's pale complexion and UK passport would help him to avoid suspicion from border authorities.

The friend, whom we are calling Matt, offered to pay Nick £3,500 for every migrant he smuggled into the UK. Nick was working as a self-employed builder at the time, but his business had been pulled under by the financial crash in the late 2000s and he was struggling to make ends meet. He also had a baby on the way and was desperate to provide for them, he told us.

Matt spoke briefly to the BBC and confirmed details of Nick's story - but we did not move forward with a full interview because he demanded payment.