One of the tugs probably came from Germany.

The French police arrested a man on the English Channel coast on Thursday night who was driving a car with a German license plate.

The officers found brand-new rubber dinghies with German price tags in the trunk.

The French interior minister Gérald Darmanin told the RTL radio station on Thursday morning and added: "Tugs buy rubber dinghies in Germany, they pay in cash." encrypted telephones ”and“ money laundering ”.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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Michaela Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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The death of 27 migrants in the English Channel, including seven women and a young girl, has rocked France. "The English Channel must not become a cemetery," warned President Emmanuel Macron. Five suspected people smugglers who are suspected of luring the predominantly Kurdish migrants onto the rubber dinghy have been arrested. The identification of the bodies has started in Calais. The two survivors, presumably men from Iraq and Sudan, cannot yet be questioned. But they are doing better, said the Minister of the Interior.

The French government wants to prevent the tragedy off the coast from turning into a new Franco-British crisis.

"The head of state has emphasized (...) That he expects the British not to exploit the dramatic situation for political purposes," said a communiqué from the Elysée Palace.

London reacted with shock to the tragedy in the Canal and renewed calls on Paris to “do more” to arrest the tugs.

“We are having trouble convincing some of our partners, especially the French, to act as the situation deserves,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding: “I understand the difficulties all countries are facing, but we want to do more together, and that is what we offer. "

Controls only in France

The British government has long promoted sending its own border personnel to France to help with patrols.

The French efforts are "not enough," said Johnson.

Some took it as evidence that two more boats carrying 40 migrants arrived in Dover the morning after the tragedy.

From Zagreb on Thursday, President Macron appealed to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands to work flat out on a European response.

Action had to be taken before the migrants reached the French English Channel coast and risked their lives for a lot of money for the crossing to Great Britain.

“We need stronger European cooperation.

France is just a transit country, ”he said at the side of the Croatian head of government, whose country is aspiring to the Schengen area.

Macron points out how difficult the situation is for France.

"These women and men do not want asylum with us," he said.

The French police officers and gendarmes were "mobilized around the clock" to monitor the coastal strip.

"Yesterday alone there were 1,000 attempts to cross the river, two thirds were prevented," says Macron.

France has never mobilized so many security forces to guard the border.

600 police officers are constantly on duty along the 330 kilometer long canal coast.

"We are securing the border for the British," he said.