Migrant dinghy reaches UK without being intercepted by Border Force as five detained in first breach in a year

FIVE people have been detained after a migrant boat reached Kent without being intercepted. They were held and passed to Border Security Command when the dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone today. All those who arrived on the boat were understood to be accounted for and detained. Migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats but one is said to have slipped through today. This was the first small boat to arrive at the UK coast without a escort since September 6, 2025. The Home Office has launched an investigation into the incident. Read more UK news A spokesperson said: “This was an isolated and rare incident. Officers responded quickly.” Kent Police were first alerted to the boat at 9.25am on Monday morning. People in life jackets were seen being taken into the border security command compound in Dover. This comes after a teenage asylum seeker who piloted an overcrowded, deflating mega-dinghy across the English Channel was jailed. Most read in The Sun Chan Atak, 19, carried the record number of passengers – including 31 children as young as 14 – on the Channel crossing on July 23. Earlier this month, a dinghy carrying 140 migrants made what is believed to be the longest crossing of the English channel yet, departing from Normandy, 170 miles from where they usually launch around Calais. Demonstrators rocked up in their droves to block the only access road to the marina in Eastney, where it is thought the migrants were being held. Following protests at Portsmouth and Dover the far-right Patriot Platform group have plotted to “stop the boats” by intercepting them in the English Channel. The Sun on Sunday revealed the anti-migrant protest group is said to be considering taking out a vessel to confront would-be asylum seekers as they cross to Britain. This would likely involve the group taking a hired boat into international waters, potentially disrupting the busiest shipping lane in the world.