Cross-channel migrant-smuggling gang exposed by BBC undercover filming

One of our undercover security guards received a coded message from Abdullah: The size of the boat had changed.

“Initially six people,” Abdullah said, “then one more. And now?”

The guard replied: “Eight.”

Finally, as the night drew close to morning, Abdullah texted a single terrified crying emoji to indicate the bad weather front moving in from the south. But the man who had feared nothing before – at least according to our past chats with him – suddenly had cold feet.

He did not say so directly, but it was clear to us that the crossing had been called off.

Desperate to salvage the final stage of the story from a journalistic point of view, we proposed to Abdullah that we make the crossing in a smaller boat.

To lend credibility to the idea, they offered to go alone, without Abu Ahmed. They would leave from a different beach. We know from experience the gangs sometimes test new boats, usually using a small group of people prepared to take a bigger risk than usual, without pause.

Abdullah did not agree, and eventually stopped responding to our messages.

Two weeks after our trip to Birmingham, we decided it was time to reveal details of our investigation, in advance of the film of our encounter with the gang. We informed police forces and the Belgian security services what we intended to publish, but did not give details of the undercover operation ahead of it being broadcast.