Cross-government unit established to bolster border security

Stronger international collaboration to tackle irregular migration and increase returns will be the focus of a new Joint International Irregular Migration Unit, drawing on expertise from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Home Office.

The Home Secretary confirmed the new unit during a trip to Rome, where she is meeting with the Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, to drive international action against people smuggling gangs, following a week of engagement on tackling irregular migration with her European counterparts.

The new unit will coordinate the extensive work already being done across the FCDO and the Home Office to tackle irregular migration, recognising that it requires international collaboration. It will be responsible for ensuring that UK embassies across the globe are prioritising the government's mission to bring down small boat crossings and drive up returns, especially in source and transit countries. It will also inform the Prime Minister's priorities internationally, so efforts to reduce illegal immigration, boost our border security and increase returns remain central.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

“Criminal gangs facilitating the perilous Channel crossings operate across borders, so law enforcement and governments need to co-operate across borders to bring them down.

“We have already made significant progress to smash the gangs, establishing our Border Security Command, increasing enforced returns by 25% and signing agreements with Iraq, Germany and the G7. This unit will drive further activity across the whole of government in pursuit of our mission to bolster border security.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said:

“Migration isn't simply a domestic issue. It's intertwined with international challenges from conflict to the climate crisis and cross-border crime. Smashing the gangs means working with our partners abroad.

"This Foreign Office is working hand in glove with the Home Office to tackle irregular migration with our new Joint International Irregular Migration Unit.

"Tackling irregular migration is a priority right across the government network from France to Iraq to Vietnam. Our Plan for Change is securing our borders and protecting vulnerable people from criminal gangs.”

The unit will work alongside the government's new Border Security Command, backed by £150m of funding, which is coordinating the work of all our law enforcement and intelligence agencies and building new partnerships across Europe to dismantle the criminal networks facilitating people smuggling.

Securing our borders and reducing small boat crossings is a key part of the government's Plan for Change and comes as the government confirms it has increased enforced returns of foreign national offenders and failed asylum seekers to the highest level in six years.

Stepping up its international cooperation, the Home Secretary signed a landmark deal with Germany on Monday to tackle organised immigration crime, as well as a Joint Statement on Border Security with Iraq last month – a first of its kind with the country.

New UK-Italy Taskforce to go after dirty money from criminal people smuggling gangs  

The UK Government has joined forces with Italy to create a new taskforce with Mafia-busting style tactics to seize the ill-gotten gains of criminal people smuggling gangs, which is set to officially launch in January next year.  

On Friday senior UK and Italian Government officials, the National Crime Agency and Italian police chiefs met to agree a new ‘follow the money' approach to disrupt the illicit finance flows generated from criminal people smuggling gangs.   

The UK, through the new Border Security Command, has facilitated sharing an illicit finance threat assessment between law enforcement agencies on dirty cash linked to organised immigration crime groups, including information on the tactics and methods used by organised immigration criminal gangs to collect, process, and use their dirty money.    

Italian and UK law enforcement will work together to freeze criminal bank accounts, carry out joint operations and drive more prosecutions to bring international people smuggling gangs to justice.   

Both Italy and the UK will also share intelligence with each other on dirty cash linked to organised immigration crime groups, including information on international people smuggling rings to take down the highest harm criminals.   

They will also look at ways to strengthen the law, both domestically and internationally, so it is easier for police to seize the profits made by criminal gangs, and set a framework for other countries in Europe to follow so that there is greater collaboration between countries to take down criminal gangs.   

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:   

“We've been clear that we will crack down on the international people smuggling gangs who are making millions from facilitating dangerous small boat crossings and putting thousands of lives at risks.   

“Italy is a world-leader in taking down the highest harm criminals and disrupting its own mafia style gangs, making them a strong partner for us to work with.    

“Our new joint taskforce with our Italian counterparts sends a clear message to the criminal people smuggling gangs: We are coming for your money.”    

The joint taskforce will gain a better understanding of how criminal gangs store illegal cash by sharing strategic assessments on how dirty money is transferred between the UK, Italy and across the world. This will include tackling and gathering more intelligence on informal banking systems – such as Hawala - which are abused by gangs use to store profits from criminal activities. 

Hawala is a global money transfer service, and while many people use it for legitimate reasons, in some countries Hawala is unregulated and allows money to be transferred anonymously, making it an attractive option for organised criminal gangs to transfer and launder their crooked cash. 

The Taskforce will work with the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats – an EU security initiative – and the National Crime Agency to develop a robust understanding of where Hawala operates across Europe, and to share intelligence on how criminal gangs move dirty money. This will then enable European law enforcement to carry out operational activity to disrupt the use of Hawala and other informal banking systems used to store profits from criminal gangs. 

Both countries will share law enforcement learnings with each other to identify best practice and new approaches to take the profits from organised immigration crime gang. The Taskforce is also looking at ways to work with the banking sector to ensure that organised criminal gangs cannot launder their ill-gotten gains through the UK's financial system.    

Italy is considered a world-leader in tackling gangs after it has considerable success in cracking down on organised immigration crime and Mafia gangs. Recently the Italian Crotone finance police, working with a special investigative police unit against organized crime and anti-mafia investigators arrested 13 people suspected of running a criminal people smuggling ring.   

According to Italian investigators, the criminal ring allegedly operated like a "travel agency," organizing irregular journeys to Italy from the Middle East and Asia, particularly from Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Lebanon. The suspected lynchpins were charged with criminal conspiracy aimed at illegally bringing non-EU citizens without residence permits into Europe, money laundering, and illegal commercial activities.  

Tackling illicit finance is a priority for the UK Government. This week, the NCA disrupted a multi-billion Russian money laundering network with links to, drugs, ransomware and espionage, resulting in 84 arrests. Named Operation Destabilise, the investigation exposed and disrupted Russian money laundering networks supporting serious and organised crime around the world: spanning from the streets of the UK, to the Middle East, Russia, and South America.   

The new Taskforce is part of the Government's work to secure our borders, which is a foundation of the government's plan for change and this is the latest step to restore order to the asylum system and deliver on working people's priorities.  

Tackling illicit finance is a wider priority for the UK Government, as the Foreign Secretary recently announced a new campaign to clamp down on corruption and illicit finance, working closely with his Cabinet counterparts, including the Home Secretary and Chancellor, to deliver an ambitious government-wide agenda to tackle corruption and dirty money both at home and overseas.