PRESS RELEASE : Home Secretary sets out ‘moral imperative’ to stop smuggling gangs [September 2024]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 6 September 2024.

The Home Secretary convenes ministers and law enforcement partners to destroy the gangs that undermine border security and risk lives on small boats.

The Home Secretary will convene a landmark operational summit of cabinet ministers and law enforcement partners today (Friday 6 September), as she sets out the moral imperative to destroy the criminal smuggling gangs making millions out of small boat crossings.

Her comments come after the horrific tragedy in the Channel this week that saw the deaths of at least 12 people, with others reported to be still in a critical condition.

The Home Secretary will be joined at the NCA headquarters in London by ministers including the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Attorney General Lord Hermer, as well as representatives from the National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) is deploying formidable covert capability to support the NCA to penetrate and dismantle the gangs at every level of operation – from facilitators to financiers.

UKIC will also attend this landmark meeting, which will set out the progress being made on intensifying the enforcement activity aimed at disrupting, intercepting and destroying the criminal network moving people, boats and engines into Europe and across the continent to the French coastline.

Ministers and law enforcement partners will examine the findings from the analysis commissioned by the Home Secretary on the operational capabilities of the criminal smuggling gangs. Discussion will also be focused on collaboration with European enforcement agencies, including Europol, and plans will be put forward to rapidly enhance this through the government’s new Border Security Command in the coming months.

NCA Director General Graeme Biggar will highlight how close co-operation with the Bulgarian authorities and an established NCA presence in that critical transit country has led to more than 40 small boats and engines being intercepted in recent weeks. This material, now removed from the smuggling supply chain, could have enabled up to 2,400 people to attempt the deadly crossing.

He will also set details of around 70 further live investigations, including:

• working with the Libyan police to target gangs trafficking migrants through Libya, with raids on warehouses where migrants are housed, often in appalling conditions, before making their onward journey to Europe
• collaboration with French authorities to investigate the death of a woman killed in an overloaded boat on 28 July

This meeting led by the Home Secretary comes as she spoke to her French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin, this week to discuss increased co-operation to dismantle the gangs.

Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said:

Exploiting vulnerable people is at the heart of the business model of these despicable criminal smuggling gangs. Women and children were packed into an unsafe boat which literally collapsed in the water this week. At least 12 people were killed as part of this evil trade. We will not rest until these networks have been dismantled and brought to justice.

The last two months has seen encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe. But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners.

At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.

NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said:

People smuggling puts lives in mortal danger.

As well as arresting suspects and seeing our investigations lead to convictions and sentences, we’re operating around the world to disrupt the perpetrators. This includes helping seize more than 410 small boats and engines since last spring, preventing thousands of crossings.

Tackling the callous criminals behind organised immigration crime is one of the NCA’s highest priorities. We continue to expand our activity to deliver ever greater impact against the threat.

In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has led a reset in the relationship with Europe, with work to increase security co-operation and tackle illegal migration at the heart. This has already led to a 50 per cent uplift in the number of NCA officers stationed in Europol, working on organised immigration crime.

Last week, the Home Secretary announced an additional 100 specialist investigators to disrupt people smuggling globally. In addition to the Europol presence, the NCA has enhanced its international liaison officer network, responsible for cracking down on criminal networks in specific areas.

A new post is open in Austria and officers are being permanently deployed to Romania. Headcount is also increasing in South East Asia, in key countries where gangs are advertising Channel crossings. These are just the first steps of an intensification of the UK’s international law enforcement and bilateral partnership arrangements and serves as a platform for Border Security Command operations.

The tragedy off the French coast on Tuesday 3 September highlights the increasingly extreme measures the gangs are willing to contemplate, as more people are crammed into less seaworthy vessels. It has been reported that most of those who died were women and children.

Intelligence reveals smugglers have also increased the price they charge for migrants to cross the Channel, including charging for children to get into boats, as the business model comes under pressure from UK and partner law enforcement.