With French authorities taking a stricter approach to monitoring the would-be migrants, small boat smuggling gangs have moved to launch from Belgium.

But armed men have rendered authorities impotent to stop the boats.

“Normally, we try to puncture the boat beforehand to prevent the crossing to the United Kingdom,” Mr Paelinck said.

“But that is not possible here, because you see ex-military personnel from Iraq circling the boat to ensure the police cannot get to it.

“Officers were threatened by the soldiers, and a mirror was even smashed with an iron bar. We conducted a risk analysis, and it is too dangerous to operate on that beach anymore. We will not do that again.”

Police have also found “weapons of war and ammunition” in migrant tent camps, and have warned it is “only a matter of time” before officers are confronted.

Ostend police chief Hannelore Hochepied told Belgian MPs it will only get more difficult, with summer a “very busy period” for his men.

PICTURED: Small boat migrants disembark onto a UK Border Security vessel in the Channel

Nicholas Paelinck revealed how military migrants had been stopping police from doing their jobs

“The small boats usually set off in the early morning, so it’s all hands on deck for the local police, with a major impact on daytime capacity,” he added.

Belgium’s coastal police receive support from federal police but have called for further federal aid to tackle smuggling gangs.

This includes technological support such as high-performance surveillance cameras, thermal cameras at key locations, sensors on access roads to the beach and drone technology.

Rob Bates, director at the Centre for Migration Control, told GB News the presence of ex-soldiers was worsening a migrant “invasion”.

“We’re talking about the fact that they are coming from countries that are in a state of permanent conflict, and they have been almost incubated in a culture and a society where it’s inevitable that they will have encountered some form of violence at some point and maybe been involved in combat and conflict,” Mr Bates warned.

A growing number of small boats have been deployed from Belgium as French authorities increase their presence

British politicians have been reluctant to treat small boat crossings with the “level of severity” needed, while the British Government has taken a “lackadaisical attitude” to the crisis, he added.

Mr Bates said: “I think, unfortunately, as the flows shift up from Belgium to France, it just shows Labour’s folly of putting all their eggs in the French deal basket.

“And actually, this is now a situation where any collaboration with European partners won’t yield the results that we need them to.

“It’s time to just finally take that step and embark on a policy of detention and deportation.”

Last month, Shabana Mahmood signed an agreement worth £662million with the French Government in an attempt to curb small boat launches.

But French politicians have said the deal “will not change anything” to stop the influx of migrants across the Channel.

Mr Bates also warned migrants in Britain had become a “permanent invasion” – with the total number of arrivals now outnumbering the British Army.

Shabana Mahmood signed a new agreement with France worth £662million in an attempt to curb small boat launches from the country

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“We are facing something here that could wreak huge, huge havoc – not just socially and fiscally – but actually in terms of the security and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Britons.

“I don’t know how many more flashing red lights we have to see on the dashboard before ministers start to treat this with the severity it does deserve.”

Last month, GB News revealed how at least 250 small migrants had launched from Belgium’s coast in a single day.

A total of 7,576 asylum seekers have crossed into Britain through the Channel so far this year, with an average of 65 people per vessel from 15 May 2025 to 14 May 2026.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are aware of dangerous and illegal small boat launches from Belgium. Through continued shared intelligence and close partnerships with Belgian authorities, numerous others have been successfully prevented to prevent illegal arrivals to the UK.

“Our work with France has already stopped more than 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the Channel since the election. We have removed or deported almost 60,000 people who were here illegally.

“But we are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country and increase removals and deportations of those with no right to be here.”