A garage which was used to store inflatable boats, engines and life jackets used to smuggle people across the Channel has been uncovered.

Photos released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) show the contents of the lock-up in France, which was used by an organised crime group to hide the items needed for the smuggling operation.

Twelve black bin liners containing life jackets were among the haul.

The discovery of the equipment comes as six people have been jailed for smuggling, following a joint investigation by the NCA and Anglo-French Joint Intelligence Cell (JIC/URO).

After intelligence from the NCA about a delivery of boats was passed to the JIC/URO, an investigation was opened in summer 2022 into the members of the network, who were then put under surveillance by OLTIM, the French police unit specialising in immigration crime.

Investigators identified members of the group, and then watched as they sourced boats from Turkey, engines and life jackets, taking them to the lock-up in Douai, a city 25 miles south of Lille.

It was being used as a staging post for the crime group, who would move boats from there to the French Cote d’Opale when they were required for migrant crossings.

In October French police moved in, arresting the six.

They included three Iraqi nationals, one of whom is alleged to be the network’s head and chief organiser, controlling access to the lock-up in Douai.

Also detained was an Afghan national said to have acted as a recruiter for migrants, a Sudanese national who prosecutors say acted as a delivery driver, and a 41-year-old French man who also worked as a driver.

Prosecutors believe the group were charging migrants around 1,500 euros to cross the Channel in their boats.

At Douai criminal court yesterday, the men were sentenced to a combined 16 years in prison.

The head of the group got a five-year jail term.

NCA Deputy Director Oliver Higgins said: "This investigation and subsequent convictions demonstrates how the close co-operation between the NCA and our partners in France is bringing results in tackling people smuggling.

“Much of the criminality involved in these small boat crossings lies outside the UK, so we have built up our intelligence sharing effort with law enforcement partners in France, Belgium and beyond.

“These smugglers don’t care about the safety of those they transport and are quite happy to put lives at grave risk for their own profits. This is why tackling them is such a priority for the NCA and our partners."

The investigation was supported throughout by Project Invigor, the NCA-led UK taskforce set up to target organised immigration crime.

More than 40,000 crossed the Channel last year on small boat, with estimations suggesting around 80,000 more people could cross this year.