PROBES INTO FIFTY PEOPLE SMUGGLERS
Bid to crush gangs behind migrant deaths
FIFTY international gangs smuggling migrants into the UK are being trailed across the globe by British police.
The National Crime Agency is working with officers in Europe and the Far East to tackle lucrative networks based in Asia.
They are run by the same Snakehead gangs behind the men convicted this week over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in Essex.
The gangs take their name from the boast that they are unstoppable because if you cut off one head, another will appear.
But the NCA’s head of immigration crime Miles Bonfield warned yesterday: “We are coming after you.”
He added: “We played a key role in securing evidence in Vietnam. This case is absolutely not over. There are still organised crime groups out there which we will disrupt.
“They exploit people for money with callous disregard for them as human beings. They care nothing if they lose their lives or are injured.”
Mr Bonfield spoke out after the conviction this week of trafficking boss Ronan Hughes, 41, and his network over the 39 Essex deaths.
The men, women and children found suffocated in 38.5C heat at the port of Purfleet in October last year had paid £13,000 each to get to the UK. Mr Bonfield added: “We have 50 investigations under way at any one time. “A number are the highest priority.”
Former Special Branch officer Chris Hobbs warned: “Essex was the tip of a very big iceberg. It’s extremely hard to deal with because it crosses so many borders and involves so many networks.”