Suspects arrested in international operation targeting small-boat smugglers

5 December 2024, 21:25

The UK has taken part in a major investigation into a network of people smugglers believed to moving across the Channel.

Alongside France and Germany, the operation targeted an Iraqi organised crime group (OCG) suspected of being involved in smuggling people from France across the Channel to the UK in small boats, according to the National Crime Agency.

The network is believed to have been central to the sourcing of equipment for Channel crossings - including inflatable boats, engines and lifejackets - which would be stored in Germany before being transported to the Channel when needed

NCA international regional manager Tom Outhwaite said: "The operation has demonstrated the benefits of working internationally to target these OCGs, and we are grateful to our French and German partners for what they have done.

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We believe the action undertaken here will have significantly degraded a people smuggling network impacting the UK, which has been directly responsible for putting lives at risk in boats on the Channel.

"Targeting, disrupting and dismantling these gangs remains a priority for the NCA, and we are devoting more resource to doing that than ever before.

"That includes additional officers working overseas in locations where criminal networks are active to assist on operations like this."

More than 500 German police officers raided locations in the North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden Wurttemberg regions on Wednesday, resulting in 13 arrests in Germany and France, while 21 boats and 24 engines were seized alongside life jackets, pumps and cash.

Some of those detained in Germany on December 4 are suspected of being senior members of the OCG and now face extradition to France, the NCA added.

The investigation was led by French police with the UK's NCA providing support, including supplying intelligence regarding the gang's routings, the agency said.

Law enforcement partners from Belgium and the Netherlands were also involved in the operation.