PRESS RELEASE : Four arrested across the UK in people smuggling raids [April 2024]
The press release issued by the Home Office on 18 April 2024.
Home Office criminal and financial investigators arrested 4 suspected people smugglers.
Four men have been arrested after a nationwide crackdown on a network suspected of smuggling migrants into the UK by air, land and sea.
Home Office teams carried out dawn raids at addresses across the country yesterday (Wednesday 17 April), detaining the suspects for further questioning.
Addresses were targeted in Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Stockport as Immigration Enforcement officers swooped on figures involved with the prolific people smuggling network. Those arrested are of British and Kurdish nationality.
The men are believed to be responsible for dozens of attempts to bring people into the UK illegally, via commercial airline flights, hidden in cars and on ferries.
As many as 50 people are thought to have entered the UK illegally since 2022 via this criminal network. The migrants are predominantly Kurdish and Vietnamese nationals.
The group’s operations are believed to have spanned Europe, with smuggling attempts taking place across the UK’s borders with the Republic of Ireland and France.
Intelligence suggests the suspects have been supplying and manufacturing false travel documents, including passports, national identity cards and blank visas. It is believed they have been charging more than £1,000 per document.
Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson, said:
We’re working day and night to dismantle the criminal gangs who are trying to turn a profit by abusing our borders.
These arrests make clear if you are involved in this kind of criminality, you can expect our teams to find you and bring you to justice – wherever you are in the UK.
More than 10,500 enforcement visits took place in the first 9 months of 2023 – up 53% compared to the same period in 2022. In 2023 alone, Home Office Immigration Enforcement secured the convictions of 141 people smugglers, including 80 people for piloting small boats.
Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigator, Paul Harvey, said:
This has been a large and well-planned operation executed across the entire country. We are working tirelessly to disrupt and dismantle the networks of criminals helping migrants to enter the UK illegally.
I’m grateful to my team for their commitment and determination in this investigation. We will now work hard to ensure these suspects are put behind bars.
