French minister asks UK for more help to combat migrant smuggling networks

PARIS (Reuters) - France's interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said he had called on Britain to provide more help in dismantling illegal immigration networks as the two countries deepen cooperation to tackle a migrant crisis at the French port of Calais. The city has become a focal point for a huge influx of migrants entering Europe to escape poverty and violence in the Middle East and Africa, with thousands seeking to make illegal and dangerous crossings into England via the Channel Tunnel. Cazeneuve told French newspaper La Croix in an interview published on its website on Monday that cooperation between French and British secret services and police had enabled them to break up 17 people-smuggling networks so far this year. "I think we need to go further, and I've asked my British counterpart for an additional effort by his services," Cazeneuve told La Croix. Britain and France on Sunday urged other European Union states to help them tackle the growing crisis. The British government said it would fund a significant boost in the number of private security guards patrolling the French entrance to the under-sea rail link operated by Eurotunnel. Nightly attempts by large groups of the estimated 5,000 migrants in Calais to force their way through the tunnel linking France and Britain have provoked public anger and severely disrupted the flow of goods between the two countries. Cazeneuve told La Croix that a "global" solution was needed to the crisis and that it was necessary to work with the migrants' countries of origin, in particular Niger. He said he hoped to organize a joint visit to the African country with French, British, Spanish, Italian and German ministers, as well as EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. "I'm currently working to make this visit happen in the coming weeks," Cazeneuve said. He said structures also needed to be put in place in Italy to enable authorities to distinguish between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, and to negotiate processes with the countries of origin for the immediate return of the latter. "Europe's efforts to combat illegal immigration networks must be reinforced," Cazeneuve said. "We must also show solidarity and share the hosting of asylum seekers." (Reporting by James Regan; editing by Ralph Boulton)