Migrant smugglers launching small boats from Belgium and
criminals involved in wider serious and organised crime will face
intensified law enforcement action under a UK-Belgium agreement
announced today.
Signed by Home Secretary and Belgian Interior
Minister Bernard Quintin, the UK-Belgium Law Enforcement
Cooperation Agreement (LECA) will enable police officers in both
countries to exchange intelligence autonomously and more quickly,
helping identify, disrupt and dismantle organised criminal
networks, including those involved in migrant smuggling.
Under previous arrangements, certain information exchanges
required judicial approval before intelligence could be shared,
creating delays at critical stages of investigations and reducing
investigators' ability to develop a timely and comprehensive
picture of criminal networks operating across both countries.
The new agreement removes those barriers, enabling officers to
share information autonomously and act more quickly against
criminals operating across borders. It will strengthen joint
investigations and specialist training to detect and disrupt
criminal activity linked to small boat crossings, as well as
wider organised crime such as drugs and firearms smuggling.
Home Secretary said:
This agreement will help UK and Belgian police tighten the net
around the criminal gangs behind small boat crossings.
The migrant smuggling trade doesn't start and stop on the beaches
of northern France. These gangs operate across borders, so we'll
work with every international partner available to track them
down, shut them down and bring them to justice.
Our efforts are delivering results. Small boat crossings are down
significantly. But we know there is much more to do. I will do
whatever it takes to bear down on these vile criminals and bring
them to justice.
Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said:
Belgium and the United Kingdom are neighbouring countries and
friendly nations. We have close operational police co-operation,
which has already delivered very concrete results both on the
ground and in investigations.
Our shared ambition is to continue working together to combat
migrant smuggling and drug-related organised crime, which operate
on both sides of our borders and exploit human misery. This text
strengthens our tools to fight these crimes together, with ever
greater effectiveness.
Joint enforcement activity between the UK and Belgium has already
delivered more than 50 arrests linked to migrant smuggling and
over 40 vehicle seizures this year, while investigations continue
into the criminal networks responsible for dangerous Channel
crossings.
Earlier this year, organised crime facilitator Adem Savas was
sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment and fined 400,000 in Belgium
for supplying thousands of boats and engines to criminal networks
involved in migrant smuggling across the English Channel.
The conviction followed a joint investigation between the
National Crime Agency (NCA) and Belgian authorities after his
arrest at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in November 2024,
demonstrating how close international co-operation can bring
those who profit from illegal migration to justice.
NCA International Director Will Middleton said:
Belgium is one of our most important partners, and law
enforcement officers from both countries work together every day
to protect the public from a range of organised crime threats. We
have already had significant operational successes through this
work.
This agreement will allow us to deepen that co-operation and
improve our intelligence sharing, whether targeting drug
traffickers, tackling firearms smuggling or stopping people
smugglers.
Last month, the Home Secretary announced a record deployment of
NCA officers to tackle organised immigration crime, with the
number of dedicated officers increasing from 276 at the start of
2025 to almost 800.
Working alongside international partners, those officers have
helped seize more than 1,100 boats and engines since the
election.
