A migrant currently in an unofficial camp in Dunkirk has said he will either die or cross the Channel to England in an exclusive interview with GB News.
Dana Saleh Mohammad, an Iraqi Kurd migrant, said he used to work in Baghdad before former President Saddam Hussein arrested him and put him in jail.
Mr Mohammad also claims that one of his kidneys was removed from him while he was in jail.
In broken English, Mr Mohammad told GB News’ Paul Hawkins: “But nobody need to say you are Dana, everybody tell me you are not this person, this person is dead in Iraq, and I say I’m not dead I am here.”
Dana Saleh Mohammad
GB News
He claims to have come to France two weeks ago and has already attempted to cross the Channel in a small boat three times.
He added: “But security took me on the beach where I go to, then I come back, I’ve not been on the boat.”
When asked if he was going to try to cross the Channel again, Mr Mohammad replied: “Of course”.
He continued: “I like work, everybody likes work on merit.”
After being asked what kind of jobs he can do, Mr Mohammad showed Paul his forklift driving license from Germany where he claimed he worked “very well” for two years.
Mr Mohammad shows off his forklift license
GB News
Mr Mohammad was then asked how many times he will try to make the crossing, to which he replied: “I stay here, I die here or I go to the UK I don’t have choice.”
A rising number of Albanian men are looking to cross the Channel from France, with GB News revealing in August that a massive 60 percent of arrivals were from the tiny Balkan nation.
When asked about that situation, Mr Mohammed replied: “I also ask the Albanians why are you coming, they say they do not have work there.”
While in a message to the British people, he said: “I am sorry for this situation but in my country it’s not as good a government as England.”
Elsewhere Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to raise the migrant crisis with his French counterpart when the two meet for the first time in Egypt on Monday.
Ahead of Cop27, the Prime Minister said his “key priority” at the UN climate change conference was resolving the crisis of small boats crossing the Channel.
“I have spent more time working on that in the last few days than anything else other than the autumn statement,” he said.
Britain and France are reportedly “close” to allowing Border Force staff on the beaches, with the PM insisting he will continue to push for a deal with Emmanuel Macron.
“We have to get a grip, do a range of things to stop it from happening, return people who shouldn’t be here in the first place," he told The Sun.
