Channel smugglers drop prices and cram more people on to boats

People-smugglers have dropped their prices and are cramming more people than ever before into already overloaded, flimsy boats, the Guardian has learned.

This week 696 asylum seekers crossed the Channel from France to the UK in one day, the Ministry of Defence said.

The increased numbers arriving in more overcrowded boats with cheaper crossing prices demonstrate that plans to forcibly remove some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on small…