Criminal gangs will face up to 10 years in jail after Germany
passed landmark new legislation on Friday 19 December to crack
down on the criminal gangs involved in smuggling illegal migrants
to the UK.
Due to come into force before the end of the year, this law means
activities in Germany that facilitate migrant smuggling towards
the UK are now a criminal offence resulting in up to 10 years in
jail.
The new legislation will mean gangs can no longer store small
boats and engines in Germany before transporting them to France
to use in Channel crossings and will strengthen existing
UK-German law enforcement co-operation.
UK and German law enforcement agencies will now have stronger
powers to take down the criminals behind the small boats, giving
prosecutors more tools to tackle people smuggling and criminality
of supply and storage of small boats equipment.
The legislation will also strengthen sharing of information
between the UK and German law enforcement to bring more people
smugglers to justice.
This forms a key part of this government's work to crack down on
small boat crossings and secure UK borders by working in
partnership with international allies. It follows the landmark
UK-Germany joint action plan on illegal migration agreed last
December.
This all comes as the government has announced the most sweeping
reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times. These new
reforms will restore order and control to our border, removing
the incentives which draw people to the UK illegally and
increasing removals of those with no right to be on British soil.
The legislation follows the Prime Minister's work to reset
international relations in order to broker deals that benefit
working people back home, including returns deals with France,
Iraq, a new treaty with Germany and tighter law enforcement
co-operation across the Western Balkans.
Home Secretary said:
Together with our German allies, we are cracking down on the
criminal gangs operating the illegal migration trade.
I thank Minister Dobrindt for Germany's strong co-operation with
the UK in tackling this issue.
This government is restoring order at our borders by scaling up
removals and removing the incentives that draw people here
illegally.
The change in German legislation was agreed in a first of its
kind bilateral deal with Germany to tackle illegal migration and
is a key example of the government's wider work to reset the UK's
relationship with international partners. Signed just over a year
ago, both countries have worked closely together at pace to push
forward these changes and ensure the criminal gangs undermining
both countries' respective border security face justice.
This will support the strong existing co-operation between the UK
and Germany as part of the joint action plan, which has already
seen joint activity targeting smuggling organisations.
The plan has had a further focus on:
- removing migrant smuggling content from social media
platforms
- strengthening our co-operation in Europol on tackling the
end-to-end routes of criminal migrant smuggling networks
- working with European and regional partners to tackle illegal
migration upstream
This legislative change underlines the strength of the
partnership established between the UK and Germany through the
landmark Kensington Treaty. It exemplifies how both countries are
working together to make progress against the 17 lighthouse
projects, that are in turn driving forward real-world outcomes.
Foreign Secretary said:
Criminal smuggler gangs operate across borders, so governments
and law enforcement need to co-operate across borders to bring
them down.
This major change in German law is the result of our close
partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised
immigration crime. We will continue to ramp up our international
co-operation to strengthen our own border security. These are the
partnerships we build abroad to make us stronger at home.
On Thursday 13 November, a joint investigation between UK and
German authorities led to the arrest of a suspected high ranking
member of a Syrian people smuggling gang. In March 2025, the
Germans issued a warrant for his arrest and, following
intelligence that he had entered the UK, passed the case on to
the NCA who tracked him down to his home address in Manchester.
Since early 2023, the NCA has worked with partners across Europe
to seize more than 950 boats and engines.
Securing this change in legislation will enable further action
between the UK and Germany and builds on existing work by the
government to reduce small boat crossings including our historic
one-in one-out agreement with the French and the passing of the
Borders Act.
Director of Intelligence at the National Crime Agency Adrian
Matthews said:
We welcome the legislative change in Germany. It will help boost
our efforts against the small boats threat and it builds on our
close working relationships with German partners who are key to
helping disrupt organised crime groups operating from the
continent.
