It wasn't easy getting to our vantage point.
Climbing up steep and deep sand dunes in the black of the night, unable to use torches or lights for fear of alerting anyone on the beach below us.
At the top, we have a clear view of a cluster of small wooden beach huts along the shore near Calais.
We'd heard the locks on three of the huts had been prised open in the last few hours and our local contact - a fisherman who knows this coastline like the back of his hand - is sure what that means. Smugglers are preparing to launch migrants on their way to the UK.
He tell us the huts are used by the smugglers to hide inflatables, outboard motors and often migrants themselves ahead of any trip. And we wait and watch in silence to see who and what may turn up in the coming hours.
And then we see torchlight. Not one beam, but multiple beams of light moving around the huts.
On his long lens, our cameraman soon confirms this will not be a successful night for the smugglers. Those torches are in the hands of the Border Force and police officers who also had been informed about the break-ins.
They scour the area fanning out along the beach. And then the torchlight heads towards us. We are soon surrounded by officers demanding to know who we are, insisting on seeing our paperwork and passports.
They escort us down to check our vehicles and authenticity. An hour later they are satisfied and we are free to go.
The checks and the night's operation are part of a fresh push to crack down on cross-Channel migrant operations being partly financed by the UK.
A helicopter is on standby along the coast in case any boats had launched.
But it is an ongoing struggle for the authorities around Calais. Record numbers of attempts have taken place in recent weeks - and as we drive away in the early hours of the morning, we see for ourselves the difficulties the police face.
We pass three young men on bicycles heading towards another section of beach. We follow them after our contact tells us they are migrants he recognises.
They get off their bikes and walk a distance. We watch, hidden again in the darkness as the men wait. For what? For stolen boats, we are told by our contact.
The migrants are the middlemen between the smugglers and those now paying about £3,000 a head to get a seat on a boat heading to England. Perhaps because of the police activity, no boats turn up while we were there.
But there is plenty of demand for the smuggler's illegal trade. In our time in Calais, we met migrants from Iran and Afghanistan who had already handed over the money and were heading for the location they had been told to go to.
No specific date had been given. They were simply told to be ready for the green light. The dangers of crossing the Channel - often with as many as 20 people in an inflatable RIB designed for eight - are no deterrent.
Nor indeed is the prospect of being caught and sent back. They were prepared to take the risk anyway.
But such a lucrative operation demands a constant supply of equipment and is fuelling crime in Calais.
Boats, RIBs and motors have been stolen from the harbour - the smugglers even more brazen during the lockdown with fewer people out.
In the last month, they've even targeted the very equipment used to save migrants who get into difficulty during their cross-Channel attempts.
Close to the harbour is the headquarters of the coastal rescue. The windows are boarded up and grills have been placed on the equipment stores after three break-ins in just over a month.
Lifeguard Lucy Gambart takes us inside and tells us five of their inflatable RIBs have been stolen, 14 marine radios, life jackets and medical kits including defibrillators.
She holds up a picture on a phone showing one of their RIBs now in England. She has no idea who has possession of it or who the boat transported to the UK.
The smugglers, she says, are risking lives. Sending people on a dangerous journey and denying them the resources to save them if they get into trouble.
The French and UK governments may be committing more equipment and effort into fighting the cross-Channel illegal trade but from what we saw it won't be easy.
There are plenty of people still determined to make it to England and plenty of smugglers willing to make vast sums by taking advantage of them.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L3NtdWdnbGVycy1zdGVhbGluZy10aGUtYm9hdHMtdXNlZC10by1yZXNjdWUtbWlncmFudHMtaW4tY2hhbm5lbC0xMTk4ODk0ONIBZ2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9zbXVnZ2xlcnMtc3RlYWxpbmctdGhlLWJvYXRzLXVzZWQtdG8tcmVzY3VlLW1pZ3JhbnRzLWluLWNoYW5uZWwtMTE5ODg5NDg?oc=5
2020-05-15 15:07:41Z
CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L3NtdWdnbGVycy1zdGVhbGluZy10aGUtYm9hdHMtdXNlZC10by1yZXNjdWUtbWlncmFudHMtaW4tY2hhbm5lbC0xMTk4ODk0ONIBZ2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9zbXVnZ2xlcnMtc3RlYWxpbmctdGhlLWJvYXRzLXVzZWQtdG8tcmVzY3VlLW1pZ3JhbnRzLWluLWNoYW5uZWwtMTE5ODg5NDg
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