Smashed, gang that smuggled 3,000 migrants into EU
POLICE have smashed a £42million international smuggling ring suspected of bringing hundreds of illegal immigrants into Britain in just three months.
The gang, which trafficked people into the UK in the backs of lorries, charged up to £14,000 for each trip.
The network was one of the most significant operating between Iraq and Britain, the National Crime Agency said.
Three men, all from or with links to the Iraqi Kurdish community, were seized in raids by officers in Greater Manchester and Staffordshire on Thursday.
The NCA, which investigates organised crime, said it was one of the most important operations it had carried out since the agency launched five years ago. It followed
‘Exploitation of the vulnerable’
a major investigation involving police in Belgium – from where the migrants travelled to the UK – and information gained from separate arrests made last month in Germany and Romania.
The men are suspected of being linchpins in a gang running a major human-trafficking operation bringing vulnerable people, including whole families, into Britain.
The ring was charging migrants up to £14,000 each for a ‘bespoke’ service in which a smuggler would sit in the cab alongside a driver who was in on the plot. Alternatively, for £5,000, asylum seekers could be crammed into the back with a driver who knew nothing of the racket.
A 41-year-old man from Oldham, and a 35-year- old from Newton Heath, Manchester, were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences. A 38-year-old man was also arrested in Stoke-on-Trent.
The 41-year- old, suspected of being the head of the criminal network, was yesterday questioned after officers seized £15,500 in cash from his home. All three had been released on bail by last night.
The action coincided with the arrests of two men in Ghent, Belgium following several months of joint operational work between the NCA and Belgian Federal Police.
In the Belgian operation, a 15year-old boy was rescued before he boarded a lorry bound for the UK, an NCA spokesman said. He added that the network, made up of smugglers, couriers and lorry drivers, was believed to have sneaked almost 3,000 migrants into Europe during a three-month period last year. Many were seeking to reach the UK.
Businesses in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Stoke- on-Trent were inspected during the UK operation, which involved officers from Greater Manchester and Staffordshire Police, Immigration Enforcement and HM Revenue and Customs. A haul of 165lb of rolling tobacco and more than 500,000 cigarettes were discovered during searches.
NCA branch commander David Norris said: ‘Between the Middle East and the UK lies a network of highly organised criminal groups who smuggle desperate people in dangerous conditions for huge sums of money. We believe during this operation we have identified and now disrupted one of the most significant of these groups, and the impact of acting in tandem with our European partners on this operation has meant we have been able to cause permanent damage to a well-established network.
‘The NCA takes people- smuggling extremely seriously. It’s a crime based on exploitation of the vulnerable and puts the security of the UK’s border at significant risk.’