France uses large nets to stop small boats crossing English Channel

The French government announced in July it would change maritime laws to allow for interceptions - but these were delayed.

However, it has now emerged that since Spring several French law enforcement officers have been equipped with so-called “arresting nets” up to 30m wide.

A source familiar with the matter told the Independent they can be used in the “fight against illegal immigration”, as well as drug trafficking.

The nets will be used to carry out interceptions during patrols of the coastline, two sources from the French Ministry of Interior told investigative newsroom Lighthouse and French newspaper Le Monde.

Teams would intercept the boats, each with a maritime gendarmerie vessel to undertake the manoeuvres, and a French Navy vessel in case assistance is needed.

A training manual from a company supplying the nets, seen by Lighthouse Reports and Le Monde, says they allow one or more boats to be “neutralised simultaneously” by blocking the propellers.

Another commercial document for the same company says nets can be “used to capture and immobilise high-speed vessels”, with the intercepting boat passing the "target" before dropping the net once it is 10-20m ahead.

The majority of deaths of passengers of small boats now occur near the coast, most of them either from drowning or asphyxiation.

A letter from the Solidaires Douanes union to the French customs general director, Florian Colas, condemned the described the plans as “inhumane” and “absurd”.

It warned that such tactics “risk causing shipwrecks and deaths, for which the moral and criminal responsibility would rest entirely on the personnel in charge of carrying out the interventions”, the Independent reported.

Twenty-six people have died during crossing attempts so far in 2025, according to French data.