GETTY The police source added that the 18 stowaways had been released without charge

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The Briton was held in Dunkirk, France, after he was found driving a van packed with 18 migrants. Among the group were five children - including one baby. The man, of Kurdish background, was stopped by the Grand-Synthe refugee camp near the channel port of Dunkirk. He was taken into French custody after trying to smuggle the migrants out of the camp, where 800 migrants are currently staying. All 18 fugitives are said to be of Iraqi origin.

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The UK-bound van was reported to have a British license plate. A local source said: “At first he refused to cooperate with officers, but eventually allowed them to search his van,’ said a local police source.

GETTY Among the group were five children - including one baby

“Inside were eighteen migrants, mainly from countries such as Syria and Iraq. All of them intended to make their way to Britain. “The five children, including the baby, were well hidden.”

Officials refused to release the man’s name, but it was reported the smuggler has bee arrested before after trying a similar operation in the French town of Frejus. He will be remanded in custody until a court appearance, likely to be early next week.

GETTY He was taken into French custody after trying to smuggle the migrants out of the camp

The police source added that the 18 stowaways had been released without charge, but would be “closely monitored”. Former migrants who have been granted asylum often return to try and help other migrants still living in camps to get past security.

Their language skills and local links give them an advantage, and they are often recruited by smuggling gangs. People smugglers can earn up to £1,000 per person they manage to sneak across borders.

GETTY Port towns across northern France also have thousands of rough sleepers battling to get into the UK

Rob Wainwright, head of the European Union’s police agency Europol, added it had 50,000 suspected people smugglers in its database, with 7,000 of those added in the first half of this year. The notorious migrant camp known as The Jungle at Calais was dismantled earlier this year, but some 4,000 migrants are still thought to be camped out in the area.