A man has been arrested in Britain in connection with the death of a Sudanese woman, believed to have died while trying to cross the English Channel, police said on Wednesday.
The woman’s body was found on a beach near Calais in northern France on Tuesday.
The man, whose details have not been released, was arrested in Dover suspected of piloting a boat which entered UK waters on Tuesday.
French police are heading the investigation with the assistance of their counterparts in British.
The victim is believed to be a 21-year-old woman from Sudan, police said.
“This incident demonstrates the danger posed to those making these crossings,” said Craig Turner, deputy director of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
“Targeting the criminal networks involved is a priority for the NCA and we are working with French partners to identify those responsible for this tragic death."
About 24,000 people have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to “stop the boats”, as one of the priorities of his premiership.
But government plans to deal with high levels of unauthorised migration have stalled.
Its plan to deport some arriving migrants to Rwanda remains tied up in the courts, while attempts to accommodate 500 migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge off the Dorset coast are on hold after the deadly bacteria Legionella was detected aboard.
