38 Migrants, One Dinghy: First Small-Boat Crossing Departs the Netherlands
November 7, 2026 · Frisian News
Dutch prosecutors confirmed a rubber dinghy carrying 38 migrants launched from Netherlands territory on 31 October, the first confirmed Channel departure bypassing France entirely, as smuggling networks continue shifting northward along the European coast.
Thirty-eight migrants were found floating in a rubber dinghy off Cadzand, in the Dutch province of Zeeland, on the morning of 31 October, without an engine, in cold weather, legs dangling over the sides. Dutch prosecutors confirmed on 5 November that the vessel had launched from within the Netherlands, which Dutch officials described as the first time a small boat crossing had been attempted from Dutch waters.
The boat was spotted by radar near Breskens between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. The Coast Guard dispatched a crew, which then contacted the Marechaussee and the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution. Two Sudanese men aboard were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling, Dutch prosecutors said. A court extended their pretrial detention by 14 days on Tuesday; both are held in restricted custody and can communicate only with their lawyers. The remaining 36 passengers were Afghan men, six of them boys under 18. All were taken to the Marechaussee's Brabant-East Brigade in Hoogerheide.
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, who also holds the asylum and migration portfolio, called it "highly disturbing." He told RTL: "This problem was situated around Calais for a long time and moved up north in the direction of Belgium. But now for the first time in the Netherlands we see this occurring." Bastiaan van Blokland of the Netherlands Red Cross described the scene as "dire" and said the crossing "didn't look safe at all."
The Netherlands departure did not arrive without warning. Earlier in 2026, BBC reporting documented a sudden rise in crossings setting off from Belgian beaches, which Federal Belgian police suggested had been due to French enforcement activity. Former UK Border Force Director General Tony Smith said the pattern was clear: smugglers had been using "Normandy beaches, Belgium and now as far afield as the Netherlands rather than across the short straits to Dover under the original model."
The UK government's position is that enforcement is working. Home Office figures show 21,869 total arrivals for 2026 through the end of October, and officials say this year recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020. A Home Office spokesperson said joint efforts had "prevented over 50,000 crossing attempts and seized 1,100 boats and engines since the election." Nearly 1,050 French officers are now supporting UK-France patrols, and in October the Home Secretary signed a fresh intelligence-sharing deal with the Belgian interior minister.
Home Office Border Force data for the days surrounding the Dutch departure complicates that picture. On 30 October alone, 671 migrants arrived in 9 boats. The day the dinghy was found adrift, 31 October, 259 more crossed. On 1 November, 477 arrived in 7 boats. The four days that followed registered zero arrivals, but the BBC reported that crossings had only just resumed after three weeks of stormy weather, suggesting conditions rather than enforcement drove the quiet.
Dover MP Mike Tapp acknowledged the logic plainly: "As launch disruptions grow, the criminal gangs will adapt and a part of that will be finding new launch locations and methods." Smith was more pointed: "It is important that the Border Security Command adapt its operations to cope with this ever-expanding challenge." Dutch prosecutors have not disclosed the dinghy's exact departure point; crews were still searching for its engine off the Cadzand coast days after the rescue.
Pushing smugglers out of Calais did not end the crossings. It moved them north.
Published November 7, 2026 · Frisian News