Kevin Hurley has paid a visit to the so-called Jungle camp close to the French port and spoken to migrants, some of whom told him that there were dangerous people living in the camp who were "working for Daesh" — also known as Islamic State.
@kvnbhrly1 @ConstableChaos @MailOnline Quelle suprise…….
— Iver Headache (@lobotomised) January 11, 2016
Mr Hurley spent several hours in the camp with investigative journalists working for the BBC.
"If I were a returning jihadi, I would smuggle myself in amongst this group; you would easily get lost," Hurley said.
However, his claims have been refuted by volunteers working in the camp.
"The overwhelming experience of the Care4Calais team is that all the individuals we meet in the camp are just ordinary people who have experienced terrible things and desperately need our help, support and compassion," said the charity Care4Calais.
"I do not believe that a terrorist would come to the UK to apply for asylum as a refugee," noted Clare Mosely, founder of Care4Calais who posted a statement on the charity's Facebook page.
"The people here in the camp fear ISIS [Daesh] and the like as much, if not more, than we do. ISIS is the reality they flee from."
Yet Hurley believes that the camp is "a potential hiding space" where people could be exploited by organized criminal gangs.
The refugee camp in Calais houses around 4,000 migrants in conditions that have been described as squalid and unsanitary. Responding to the deteriorating living space, French authorities have delivered empty shipping containers to replace makeshift tents and shelters in the northeast area of the camp.
The containers are equipped with beds, heaters and windows, however have no toilets or showers. They are designed to accommodate 1,500 people. Their durability could be a welcome addition to many migrants but their permanence is causing political frictions in France.
In 2002, a refugee camp in Sangatte had to be shut down after it descended into chaos and French and British authorities agreed that the permanent camp was encouraging illegal immigration across the Channel to England.
