Authorities intercepted what they believe is the first small-boat smuggling attempt to launch from the Netherlands.
A rubber dinghy packed with 38 migrants was discovered drifting without an engine off the southern Dutch coast last Saturday.
Emergency crews towed it to the nearby port of Cadzand, in the Zeeland province, and two Sudanese men were arrested on suspicion of being involved in human smuggling, Dutch prosecutors said.
A magistrate ordered their detention for 14 days on Tuesday, and both suspects are being held in restricted conditions, meaning they can only communicate with their lawyers, they added.
Mike Tapp, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal and a former Intelligence Corps soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the incident demonstrated how trafficking networks are evolving their methods in response to tighter enforcement.
Mr Tapp, who recently served as Migration Minister, told the BBC: “As launch disruptions grow, the criminal gangs will adapt and a part of that will be finding new launch locations and methods.
“That means our operational efforts must also be agile.”
He acknowledged progress but stressed the challenge remained significant, adding: “We have seen a significant reduction in crossings this year, but we still have a long way to go.”
Beaches around Calais and Dunkirk in northern France have traditionally been the main departure points for small-boat crossings since they surged in 2018.
Belgian police have attributed the northward shift in launch sites to intensified French enforcement activity.
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, who also holds the asylum and migration portfolio, called the incident “highly disturbing” and said authorities would review what lessons it could offer.
He told Dutch media: “This problem was situated around Calais for a long time and moved up north in the direction of Belgium. But now for the first time in the Netherlands we see this occurring.”
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Bastiaan van Blokland of the Netherlands Red Cross, who assisted emergency services at the scene, described the situation as “unusual” and deeply alarming.
He said: “The situation definitely was dire, 38 people on a boat with legs dangling out of the boat, in the cold weather, without an engine…It didn’t look safe at all.”
He added that Dutch Red Cross workers were unfamiliar with such incidents and would remain vigilant going forward.
The discovery caps a steady geographical expansion of smuggling routes across the Channel.
Tony Smith, a former director general of the UK Border Force, said it was “clear that the human smugglers operating in Europe continue to try new routes to bring illegal entrants to the UK”.
He said: “In recent months we have seen launches from the Normandy beaches, Belgium and now as far afield as the Netherlands rather than across the short straits to Dover under the original model.
“It is important that the Border Security Command adapt its operations to cope with this ever-expanding challenge.”
Channel crossings have nonetheless fallen sharply this year.
Between January and the end of October, 21,869 people arrived by small boat, a roughly 40 per cent drop compared with the same period in 2025.
A Home Office spokesman said joint operations with international partners had stopped more than 50,000 crossing attempts and led to the seizure of 1,100 boats and engines since the general election.
“But we must go further,” the spokesperson added. “That’s why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.”
Close to 1,050 French officers are now deployed to support joint UK-France efforts to prevent crossings, with an additional surge team reinforcing operations along western beaches.
In October, the Home Secretary signed an agreement with her Belgian counterpart Bernard Quintin to speed up intelligence sharing between the two countries’ police forces, aimed at dismantling the organised criminal networks behind migrant smuggling.
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