A Home Office spokesperson said:
“We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
Background:
- On 6 March Martin Hewitt met with his French counterpart Patrick Stefanini where they deepened small boats cooperation and signed the Upstream Working Group Roadmap to bolster efforts to increase deportations, prevent crossings and disrupt organised immigration crime.
- On 27 February the Home Secretary met with her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau to agree robust new measures to tackle people-smuggling gangs. The ministers agreed to introduce:
- a new specialist intelligence and judicial police unit in Dunkirk to speed up the arrest and prosecution of people-smugglers.
- a new Compagnie de Marche of specialist enforcement officers, similar to the arrangements that were put in place during the Paris Olympics which reduced crossings, supported by increased local policing.
- training additional drone pilots to increase operations and intercept planned boats before they reach the sea.
- On Thursday 30 January the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill was introduced to Parliament, this landmark legislation features new counter terror-style powers to identify, disrupt and smash people smuggling gangs.
- The Bill also includes stronger powers to seize and search mobile phones to investigate organised immigration crime alongside new offences against gangs conspiring to plan crossings, selling or handling small boat parts for use in the Channel, supplying forged ID documents, for migrants attempting to come here illegally.
- Our new Border Security Command, led by Martin Hewitt, will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute these evil criminals.
- The Border Security Command, backed by £150 million worth of funding, is a key part of the plan to protect borders, remove those with no legal right to be in the UK, and introduce new counter-terror style powers.
- This major funding boost will initially go toward a range of enforcement and intelligence activities, including:
- Investing heavily in NCA technology and capabilities, delivering advanced data exploitation and improvements to technologies to boost collaboration with European partners to investigate and break people smuggling networks.
- 300 staff for the new Border Security Command, who will strengthen global partnerships, deliver new legislation, and lead the system through investment and strategy.
- 100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the NCA, dedicated to tackling criminals who facilitate people smuggling.
- Creating a new specialist OIC Intelligence Source Unit which will cohere intelligence flows from key police forces.
- Boosting the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to deliver charging decisions more quickly on international organised crime cases.
- Since the government came to office, we have returned thousands of people with no right to be here.