Patrick Christys has directly challenged an individual suspected of operating illegal Channel crossings after they responded to his enquiries about passage to Britain.
The GB News host arranged to meet the suspected people smuggler, posing as a Vietnamese migrant, at a specific location in France following an exchange of messages in which he offered assistance with crossing the maritime border.
Patrick documented the encounter, which revealed the suspected smuggler had communicated with him in English through messages before the face-to-face meeting.
A GB News investigations team, have previously handed information they have gathered to the security services in Britain, including phone numbers and copies of conversations.
GB NEWS
|Patrick Christys confronted the suspected people smugglers who sent him their location
The confrontation formed part of a GB News investigation into criminal networks facilitating unauthorised entry into the UK via small boat crossings from French shores.
But having heard nothing back from his information, the team led by Patrick decided to go to France to gather more evidence which they could then provide to the French authorities.
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The meeting took place after the presenter received specific coordinates and instructions to attend a particular location. Visibly spooked by the cameras, after appearing from the bushes the suspected smuggler began to walk away.
The presenter followed him and directly asked the individual: "Are you a human trafficker?" The person responded with a denial.
The suspected smuggler initially insisted they could not communicate in English, stating "No speak English" when questioned.
This claim contradicted the earlier text exchanges that had been conducted entirely in English.
GB NEWS
|The man refused to speak in English
"That's strange you spoke English when you messaged me before, didn't you?" Patrick said.
When asked about their nationality, the person eventually responded with "Kurdish". The individual maintained their pretence of not understanding English throughout most of the exchange, repeatedly stating "Don't speak English" and "No speaking English".
Throughout the encounter, Patrick raised concerns about the dangers of Channel crossings, asking: "Do you ever worry that, when you send people across the Channel, they might die?"
GB NEWS
|The man ran away from the GB News presenter
The suspected smuggler said "I will speak English" and Patrick replied: "You’ll speak English?" But before he could continue the conversation the man ran away,
He added: "OK. Well, there we go. It’s as easy as that. We’ve got their faces on record, and we know it’s them they sent us the messages, the exact location.
"The only reason they came up from there was to see us. So we know it’s them. They are the human traffickers bringing people across.
"We’re going to hand all of this over to the French police and see if anything can be done about it."