HARBOUR staff in South East Cornwall are readying themselves for the possibility that refugees may attempt to arrive by boat from the European mainland.

Officers from the Home Office’s border control team were carrying out a coastal patrol between Fowey and Polperro on Wednesday, and called in to speak to harbour trustees and skippers in Polperro, said harbourmaster Oliver Puckey.

‘I think with the situation in the media being as it is, they were raising the flag,’ he said.

‘They asked us if we’d seen anything unusual.’

Mr Puckey said that the possibility of illegal immigrants arriving in Cornwall had been discussed at a harbour meeting yesterday.

He said that because controls were being tightened elsewhere in Europe, migrants might try to arrive by alternative coastal routes.

‘It’s not a case of if, it’s when,’ he said.

‘The next wave of smuggling will not be cigarettes or drugs, it will be people.’