A man who reportedly threatened a Ukip MEP with a gun was not a migrant but actually a British gangster, police sources have told a newspaper.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper cites a senior police source saying that said a man who was accused to threatening Mike Hookem at Dunkirk was in fact the ringleader of a UK-based gang.
Mr Hookem was on a fact-finding mission to a migrant camp in Calais when his group was asked to leave by a group of people, according to video footage posted on social media.
“Just been threatened with a gun by migrants in Dunkirk,” Mr Hookem tweeted on Monday afternoon, before adding that he had reported the incident to the police.
After a number of users on social media suggested that the incident had been invented for publicity reasons, Mr Hookem added:
“All those saying I made it up: unlucky. We have footage. Looking forward to the apologies.”
The newspaper says France police have seized 30 cars with UK number plates from the camp Mr Hookem visited and that the men are under surveillance.
In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies
Mr Hookem today tweeted: "For the record, we discovered it was a British gang in Teteghem and reported it accordingly.”
The British Government has sent extra private security to northern France to help restore order in areas where migrants are camped near ports and the portal to the channel tunnel rail link.
A poll conducted by YouGov this month found that most of the British public support deploying armed forced to the region.
