Kent Police detain 17 migrants in two days trying to cross the Channel

At least four migrants have been detained by police after two boats were spotted off the coast of Folkestone.

The arrests were made early on Thursday morning, according to a statement from Kent Police.

It said the Border Force, the government agency responsible for “frontline” issues at sea, was helping the police with regards to the incident.

It means 17 migrants have been picked up in the past two days by Kent Police.

“Kent Police received a report that two boats, suspected to be transporting migrants, had been seen off the coast of Folkestone at 6.59am on Thursday 2 May 2019,” read the statement.

“The Coastguard and Border Force were deployed and officers also attended to provide assistance with an area search on land.

“At present four people, believed to be migrants, have been detained and enquiries at the scene remain ongoing.”

It is the latest such incident to take place in recent weeks off the coast of Kent.

On Wednesday, eight migrants were detained in Dover after an empty dinghy was found.

The men were discovered at the Port of Dover shortly after a boat was discovered in nearby Langdon Bay.

Following that, a Border Force patrol boat then intercepted a second dinghy off the coast of Kent and brought the five men to Dover.

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The Home Office said the 13 men had been “medically assessed and transferred to immigration officials for interview”.

Late last month, three boats carrying 36 migrants were also intercepted off of the Kent coast, the Home Office said.

One vessel with 11 men on board was spotted in the English Channel and then taken to Dover by Border Force officials.

Another boat carrying 15 people, which included children, was taken to Dungeness a few hours later.

And a third boat with nine men and one woman was shortly after intercepted by a Border Force patrol and also taken to Dover.

All of the 36 migrants in those incidents claimed to be from Iraq or Iran.

In total, at least 515 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since November 2018.