Small boats destined to carry over 1,000 illegal migrants to Britain s | UK | News
During the British channel, the small boat, each condemned to carry 1,200 migrants, was seized by a European ferry. It is the second largest shipment of small boats in less than three weeks following the joint works between the National Crime Agency and Bulgarian law enforcement partners. The shipment of 20 meters of bloating on an eight -meter was found in a large truck connected to the Netherlands at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on August 10th.
The transition point is one of the most intense in Europe, and is a key point targeted by people’s smugglers and other criminal gangs that fuel the UK’s small boat crisis. The latest seizure was carried out as part of the NCA operation in cooperation with the Home Office International Operations (HOIO), which targets the materials of small boat equipment moved to Europe. Intelligence was transferred to the Bulgarian National Customs Agency and allowed civil servants to cut the truck and search.
Although the boats are not completely suitable for deep water use, they are typically used to carry about 50 or 60 people along the channel.
The truck driver is now accused of violating Bulgarian customs regulations.
In recent weeks, the second major seizure – on July 26, a similar burden containing 25 boats in the same place has been identified and seized. It is believed that a total of 69 has been seized at the checkpoint since the beginning of the year.
For NCA International, European President Gill Duggan said: “This second important seizure shows how we accelerate our overseas work by targeting the supply lines of OCGs from France to England.
“Stopping these dangerous boats from reaching the hands of the smugglers of people prevented the passage and prevented the risk of life.
“NCA continues to increase our work with European partners in order to disrupt the supply of marine equipment as well as partners, including home office, FCDO and HMRC, and this gives more than 700 boats and engines seized since the beginning of 2023.”
The fight against organized migration continues to be a priority for NCA and more than 90 investigations continue to gangs or individuals at a high level of guilt.
The Minister of Interior Yette Cooper said: “What these recent disruptions show is the coordinated approach that continues with the national criminal agency and home office international operations after crime smuggling gangs.
“Criminals, which facilitate these dangerous transitions, undermine our border security and risk their lives.
“In order to seize these boats upwards and eliminate the infrastructure they use, it is just a part of the work we do with our European partners and international law enforcement officers.
“Struggling with organized immigration crimes of this scale requires constant efforts – it will take time, but we make a clear progress with our plan to take into account those who take into account operations, changes, changes and disassembling and vulnerable people.”
