Shops on Britain's high streets have been accused of helping people smugglers assists migrants crossing the Channel. A money transfer shop was found to be working with a global smuggling ring to avoid police detection, according to an investigation by The Telegraph. The investigation uncovered a shop in Birmingham that agreed to put money in the accounts of a suspected people smuggler.

As part of the sting, one reporter contacted a Calais-based smuggler by the name of Sangari, while another posed as an Afghan national who wanted to send a relative from France to the UK. After Sangari was told he needed to send the money to the UK, he shared his Birmingham contact - a man who called himself Esmat and gave instructions to make a £1,500 cash payment at the money exchange shop.

Once at the money exchange shop, two undercover reporters were asked to call their people smuggler contact, Esmat.

One of the brokers received instructions over the phone from Esmat to put the money directly into his account, in an exchange covertly filmed by the reporters.

The broker said: "Ok, that’s good. Should I add it to your account? Do you have my WhatsApp? Send me a hi."

He added to the reporters: "It’s ok. You give me £1,500 and it’s all right. You need to bring the money and a passport, then we will give you a paper record."

The broker also suggested using the passport of one of the reporters. He claimed the money would end up with the right person in Afghanistan, but did not give any specific details on its final destination.

Esmat also did not say who would receive the money, nor whether it would be refunded if the attempted crossing failed.

The exchange used the hawala system, used to transfer money in countries that have restrictions or where formal banking systems are not fully developed.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched a crackdown on this as it exists outside of the traditional banking system, meaning there are no paper trails and it is regularly exploited by criminals.

Funds being transferred from the UK via the hawala system have increased, according to the NCA, as "hundreds of millions" of pounds a year are made in Channel crossings.