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Just this week, a Sudanese migrant was killed attempting to make it to Britain via lorry

Security sources have told GB News of an uptick in the number of illegal immigrants moving away from small boats and trying to reach the UK in lorries and other vehicles.

Many are taking increasing risks, by trying to jump onto moving lorries, to cut through the roofs of the vehicles, in an effort to avoid detection.

Just this week, a Sudanese migrant was killed and others have been injured, as they targeted toll booths on the A26 road about 40 miles from the port of Calais.

The Setques toll plaza in the Pas-de-Calais has become one of a number of increasingly popular locations away from the main ports, where lorries slow down enough for migrants to attempt to jump aboard.

GB News has obtained a series of videos posted by smugglers and migrants, showing how they’ve cut their way into UK bound trucks.

The rise in smuggling attempts by road, comes as increased beach patrols and bad weather have seen a more than 40% reduction so far this year in illegal migrant arrivals by boat.

At the peak of the crisis involving vehicle-borne stowaways in 2015, Border Force detected more than 81,000 migrants at French ports, as they attempted to reach the UK.

The numbers detected now average around 5,000 at year, but authorities are checking fewer lorries than they once did, so the true number of stowaways is not known.

Border Force relies on targeted, intelligence-led screening rather than checking every single vehicle manually.

The onus is also on lorry drivers to ensure they are not carrying any unwanted passengers, with fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal immigrant found onboard.

Lorry drivers have also reported increasing levels of violence and threats from desperate illegals.

Another video taken by a Polish lorry driver shows a migrant in the trailer of his vehicle leaning out and smashing on the door of the lorry cab with a metal bar.

After the lorry pulls over, the illegal immigrant is seen swearing and spiting at the shocked driver, before running off.

In the video, the driver is shown examining the damage, multiple sharp dents in the side of the lorry cab.

One source told GB News: "Despite the understandable focus on the boats crisis, attempts by migrants to board UK bound lorries and other vehicles has never gone away.

"It’s not the major crisis it was almost a decade ago before the smugglers switched much of their attention to the use of dinghies, but it remains a persistent problem."

Our source said: "The truth is, we don’t know how many illegal migrants make it across to the UK.

"If they’re not found in the French ports, or on arrival in the UK, the odds are they’ll manage to exit the vehicle at some point and disappear off undetected by the authorities.

"And we can only know what we know, if they slip through, we’ve no idea how many might have managed that."

Just last night, a migrant was pulled from the back of a lorry at a stop on the M1 in Bedfordshire.

Last year, close to 2,000 illegal immigrants were detected by authorities in the UK, having made it across from France hidden inside vehicles.

Some 16,931 illegal migrants have crossed the English Channel by boat so far this year.

The figure is 43 per cent down on the same period last year.

The Home Secretary attributed the drop to increased international co-operation, disrupting small boat supply chains, as well as a £662m deal with France to put more officers on beaches.

But maritime sources have told GB News that sustained periods of poor weather has also been a major factor in the reduction in crossings.

There is no doubt, people smugglers have switched tactics, launching fewer boats, with more migrants on board, much further down the coast.

It may in part explain the uptick in those migrants deciding to take their chances in the back of a lorry, than on an increasingly unpredictable dinghy journey.