Major investment sets tone for Government’s immigration crime crackdown

As part of the new Border Security Command uplift, the National Crime Agency, the police service and other law enforcement agency partners will receive a significant cash injection in order to bolster the UK’s border security and disrupt the criminal people smuggling gangs.

The investment comes ahead of an expected effort by the smuggling gangs to cram ever-more vulnerable individuals into unseaworthy boats launched from the French coast while the weather remains fair. The industrial-scale smuggling business is now under sustained pressure from co-ordinated UK and European partner law enforcement action.  

The £75 million package redirects funds originally allocated to the previous Government’s Illegal Migration Act. It will unlock sophisticated new technology and extra capabilities for the National Crime Agency to bolster UK border security and disrupt the criminal people smuggling gangs.

The investment is designed to build on a pattern of successful upstream disruptions announced at an operational summit held last week at the National Crime Agency’s headquarters and attended by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

New capabilities

The new capabilities on offer include the following: 

*covert cameras and state-of-the-art monitoring technology designed to enhance evidence collection, speed up investigations and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions

*establishing a new unit to improve intelligence collection across UK police services and information flows to partners, alongside an uplift in prosecutors working in the Crown Prosecution Service to act on investigations and swiftly bring those responsible for criminality to justice  

*recruitment of additional personnel for the new Border Security Command, led by Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, which will oversee the co-operation of all of the organisations involved in smashing the crime gangs 

*increased work to tackle organised crime groups facilitating irregular migration upstream by intensifying efforts in transit countries to prevent small boat equipment from reaching the French coast 

The announcement follows a meeting between the Prime Minister and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome to discuss systematic bilateral co-operation on border security. Italy has witnessed a significant drop in irregular migration thanks to the introduction of tougher enforcement and enhanced co-operation with international partners.

Martin Hewitt joined the UK delegation in Rome. The enhanced technical and staffing resources will be an important platform for the work Hewitt will now co-ordinate across UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies when he formally begins his new role in the coming weeks.

The funding also covers an additional 100 specialist investigators for the National Crime Agency. This was announced by the Government last month and represents a 25% increase in the National Crime Agency’s dedicated personnel tackling organised immigration crime.

Further, the Government has announced a 50% increase in the number of British officers stationed at Europol. They’re actively supporting European operations to dismantle organised crime groups currently facilitating people smuggling.

Major overhaul and upgrade

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Criminal gangs are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. The Border Security Command will deliver a major overhaul and upgrade in law enforcement targeting the smugglers and trafficking gangs in order to boost our border security. State-of-the-art technology and enhanced intelligence capabilities will ensure that we are using every tool at our disposal to dismantle this vile trade.”

Rob Jones, the National Crime Agency’s director general for operations, responded: “We welcome this new funding, which will allow us to improve and extend our technology, data exploitation and capacity-building both internationally and here in the UK.”

Jones continued: “Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the National Crime Agency. We are currently leading around 70 investigations into the gangs or individuals involved in the highest echelons of criminality and, in the process. devoting more resources to this task than ever before. We’re determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, wherever they might choose to operate.”

Stephen Parkinson, director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service, observed: “Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors will bring significant expertise to the new unit to help stop human trafficking gangs in their tracks and pursue any assets gained through criminality.”

Parkinson noted: “Working with partners, we will continue to discourage, disrupt and dismantle this exploitative trade through prosecutions and cross-border collaboration.”

The Government’s latest announcement coincides with a concerted push by UK ministers to tackle shared border security challenges. Immigration Minister Dame Angela Eagle attended the annual Berlin Process Interior Ministers’ meeting in Germany on 17 September to discuss strengthening border security, tackling organised crime groups and combating violence against women and girls across the Western Balkans region.

The meeting brought together European partners focused on working with partners across the Western Balkans, a key region in the journey of irregular migrants through Europe and, in many cases, onwards to the UK.