The eviction of the Calais jungle is about to begin, but who does this act of brutality serve? On the one hand, cynical politicians looking to the French presidential election next year, desperately trying to cling onto power with a show of toughness. But also, it will boost the profits of a host of private companies who supply the rubber bullets and barbed wire, bulldozers and deportation buses.
Calais Research Network, a research group formed this August, has compiled an expanded list of over 40 companies profiting from the border regime. These companies have an interest in building up ‘security’ in Calais and beyond, part of a flourishing industry surrounding everything from the privatization of lorry inspections to the manufacturing of tear gas canisters and the constantly proliferating fences and walls along the highway.
The full list with detailed information on each company can be viewed on the new Calais Research website. This companies list is the first page to be published on the site. In the coming days further pages will be added to map out some of the many axes of power that shape the reality of the border, including further information on the decision-makers behind the securitisation of Calais, and more detailed investigations of key companies including Eurotunnel and Vinci.
This list is still far from complete, and we will continue to update it as we uncover more information. If you have any information on these companies or others, please send it to us at
calaisresearch(at)riseup.net. Your confidentiality will be fully respected. We would also be interested to hear more accounts of corruption and collaboration in the NGO sector.
Initial list of Calais border profiteers:
Security Guards:
Eamus Cork Solutions (ECS): freight searching, detention and prisoner
‘escorting’
Tascor: holding facilities and detainee transport
Biro Sécurité: biometric technology and security guards in the
“Container Camp” and Jules Ferry Centre
ATMG: Security on the container camp construction site
Mondial Protection: port and rail freight security
Wagtail: Border detection dogs
Walls, Fences, and Construction:
Vinci, including subsidiaries Sogea and Eurovia: camp demolitions,
wall construction, and just about everything else …
Jackson’s Fencing: 2015 fence
Zaun Ltd.: 2014 NATO fence
Groupe CW (Clôtures Michel Willoquaux): container camp fences 2015
Logistic Solutions: containers for the Container Camp
Border Technology:
L3 Communications: X-Ray Scanning Equipment
Roke Manor Research / Chemring Group: PMMWI (Passive Millimeter-Wave
Imaging) and Vehicle Scanning
Thales: port security and drones
FLIR Systems: thermal cameras
Smiths Detection: X-Ray technology
AMG Systems: CCTV technology for Eurotunnel
Clearview Communications: Eurotunnel CCTV
Rapiscan Systems Ltd. / OSI Systems: X-Ray Technology
Scan-X Security: X-Ray Technology
Chess Dynamics: day/night vision systems for Border Force boats
SmartWitness: DIY truck security systems
VisionTrack: DIY truck security systems
Deportation and Detention:
Twin Jet: deportation jet charter
Police support services:
IBIS (Accor S.A.): hotel of choice for the CRS riot police
Buzzlines Travel: bus transport of UK Border Force officers
Police weapons:
SAE Alsetex: teargas
Etienne Lacroix: teargas
Nobel Sport: teargas, most common variety used in the Jungle
SAPL: stun grenades
Verney-Carron: flashballs
Brügger & Thomet
Taser France
Marck
Combined Systems: teargas and rubber bullet guns