Well, there was a bit of argy-bargy in Portsmouth last night, Eastney to be precise.
After the French Police had closed down the beaches closest to Britain, the traffickers tried a new route from the Cherbourg peninsula.
Except this isn't a new route.
I've documented before that I've personally seen strange small boats arriving in Langstone harbour at night. By strange, I mean not the usual boats you see if you live down at Eastney. And at one point I did virtually live down there as I had a yacht down there on a mud mooring. Anecdotal evidence of what those boats do when they eventually hit land at the top of the harbour is that men are bringing large heavy bags ashore and loading them into vans. Note they land at the top of the harbour, which is not on any of the Islands like Hayling or Portsea (Portsmouth) which have ANPR cameras on the limited routes onto the islands. Make of that what you will.
Now what's in those bags, one can only speculate, but with crime comes weapons and drugs. Contacting the Police is pointless, because before you even get a response on the phone, the boats and the vans are gone.
So the route picked yesterday is a known route for the traffickers. They know how much extra fuel to carry to cover the extra mileage. This is no desperate slingshot across the channel. It has been done many times before, just not carrying people.
Now, to the events of last night.
Eastney lifeboat station is on the end of a peninsula served by just one road. It also has a pontoon for the ferry boat between Eastney and Hayling island on the other side of the harbour entrance.
So the authorities made a bit of a strategic error getting the Bembridge lifeboat to land there. I see that there was time to get coaches to Eastney to pick up the illegal immigrants before the residents of Pompey closed the road. And set up tents. And supply care packages. Makes you wonder if the authorities already knew this was a trafficking route and had resources in place nearby, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
Also the authorities underestimated the community spirit here. Plenty of people are motivated enough to turn up and protest, in numbers. And are quite happy to defy dispersal orders too.
Also it seems that Danny Tommo's balaclava mob got the news via facebook and jumped on trains to Pompey from Dover to add to the crowd. Not that there's a shortage of balaclava-wearing blokes here in Portsmouth anyway. Also the Police had better watch out: Pompey lads are always up for a ruck. Heavy-handed Police tactics might backfire.
A word of warning to the authorities: Portsmouth is not the ideal location for this activity. It's an island city with only 3 roads onto the Island. As Portsmouth residents know all too well, those routes can quite easily be blocked and cause chaos across the city. There's more than one way to block the importation of more immigrants. And to prevent Police reinforcements from dispersing any protest.
Just saying.
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