The Home Secretary has committed to enhancing the capabilities of
the enforcement agencies to build covert intelligence to
bring down criminal smuggling gangs making millions out of small
boat crossings.
As part of an immediate £75million investment in border security,
new funding will be made available to the National Crime
Agency to pay for game-changing covert operation
equipment to disrupt people smugglers.
This will support the delivery of criminal investigations and
disruption operations in the UK, across Europe and in upstream
countries.
This builds on the funding provided to the NCA to recruit 100
specialist intelligence and investigative officers, which
includes extra staff stationed across Europe to go after the
smuggling gangs and their supply chains.
In the last few weeks, a joint intensification exercise involving
NCA and Border Force staff deployed to the Bulgarian border saw
10 small boat engines seized. This follows a previous
interception of more than 40 small boats and engines in the
country after the NCA increased its presence in the critical
transit country.
Further recent activity between NCA officers and law
enforcement partners across Europe, including the Dutch and
Italians, led to the seizure of around 600 dangerous lifejackets
destined for use by the gangs to bring migrants across the
Channel.
The Home Secretary spent the latter half of the week in Avelliono
in Italy at the G7 meeting of Interior and Security Ministers.
There she had her first bi-lateral with the newly appointed
French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, where both signalled
their shared determination to tackle the serious problem of
criminal gangs operating along the Channel and across
Europe.
Following the meeting, the Home Secretary agreed to visit France
before the end of the year and to host a meeting of the Calais
Group in London in December to explore new ways of working with
the UK's closest neighbours to strengthen border security and
clampdown on smuggler and trafficking gangs.
The Home Secretary also met with Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner
for Migration and Home Affairs, Matteo Piantedosi, Interior
Minister For Italy; and Nancy Faeser, Federal Minister of The
Interior And Community For Germany. This comes as part of a wider
Government reset of the relationship with Europe, with security
cooperation and tackling organised immigration crime at its
core.
Home Secretary, said:
“Criminal smuggling gangs who organise small boat crossings
undermine our border security and put lives at risk, as we
tragically saw again today (Saturday). The new government is
rapidly accelerating cooperation with other countries to crack
down on these dangerous gangs. This includes funding new
technology to support specialist operations being run across
Europe and beyond.
“It's vital that we disrupt the way these violent and dangerous
gangs operate. That means going after their supply chains, so
boats and engines don't reach the French coast and following
flows of money through the criminal networks.
“In the coming months, we will be scaling up our Border Security
Command, recruiting more investigative officers and working more
closely with our European partners to ensure these criminal gangs
are stopped and brought to justice.”
