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Al Jazeera
23-07-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
UK sanctions 25 targets involved in alleged people smuggling
The United Kingdom has sanctioned 25 targets involved in alleged people smuggling, under a new financial sanctions regime targeting those facilitating the travel of refugees and migrants across the English Channel via small boats. The individuals and entities targeted on Wednesday include a small boat supplier in Asia and gang leaders based in the Balkans and North Africa. 'Middlemen' putting cash through the hawala money transfer system in the Middle East, which is used in payments linked to Channel crossings, are also targeted. It is unclear how effective the new sanctions regime will be, since British authorities can only freeze assets that are in the UK, and most of the smugglers are based elsewhere. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Wednesday that it was a 'landmark moment in the government's work to tackle organised immigration crime [and] reduce irregular migration to the UK'. 'From Europe to Asia, we are taking the fight to the people smugglers who enable irregular migration, targeting them wherever they are in the world and making them pay for their actions,' he added. The move follows legislation being introduced under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to ramp up enforcement powers for police forces and partners to investigate and prosecute people smugglers. As part of the new sanctions regime, which was introduced two days ago, the government can now freeze assets, impose travel bans and block access to the country's financial system for individuals and entities involved in enabling irregular migration, without relying on criminal or counterterrorism laws. Albanian Bledar Lala, leader of the Belgian operations of an organised smuggling group, and a company in China that advertised small boats for people smuggling on an online marketplace are among those sanctioned. The number of refugees and migrants arriving on England's southern coast via small boats from northern France is a major political issue for Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government, which has seen the far-right Reform UK party make significant political gains with a hardline anti-immigration platform. Starmer recently agreed to migration deals with France and Germany. Earlier this month, Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to a 'one in, one out' deal in which refugees and migrants arriving by small boats would be returned to France in exchange for an equal number of migrants being able to come to the UK from France via a new legal route, which would be fully documented and subject to strict security checks. Last week, Germany and the UK signed a historic defence treaty, in which Berlin committed to making facilitating the smuggling of refugees and migrants to the UK a criminal offence. The law change, which is expected to be passed by the end of the year, will give German authorities more powers to investigate and take action against warehouses and storage facilities used by smugglers to conceal small boats for Channel crossings. Some 37,000 people crossed the English Channel in 2024, and more than 22,000 so far in 2025 – an increase of about 50 percent from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died attempting the journey.
The National
22-07-2025
- Business
- The National
UK imposes sanctions on migrant smuggling bosses
Britain has launched a sanctions regime for people smugglers that it hopes will tackle a multibillion-dollar industry sending record numbers across its borders. Officials are targeting gang leaders, corrupt police officers and companies selling small boat equipment for Channel crossings. Those involved in the trade in Europe, the Middle East and beyond face having their assets frozen and being banned from travel to the UK. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said sanctions introduced to target anyone involved in assisting illegal immigration to the UK would be imposed as soon as Wednesday. The target group ranges from those involved in supplying and financing small boats, suppliers of fake passports, and middlemen putting cash through the hawala system, a legal money transfer system that enables the payments linked to Channel crossings. The first wave of sanctions will publicly name anyone sanctioned, so it will be illegal for UK businesses and banks to deal with the so-called Mr Bigs of the trade. First named The measure is expected to include more than 20 designations, and could include corrupt public officials and police officers in steps to tackle the multibillion-dollar industry. 'For too long, criminal gangs have been lining their corrupt pockets and preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with impunity as they drive irregular migration to the UK,' Mr Lammy said. 'We will not accept this status quo. 'That's why the UK has created the world's first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers.' Legislation under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is designed to increase enforcement powers for police forces and partners to investigate and prosecute people smugglers. New sanctions aim to target organised crime gangs wherever they are in the world and disrupt their flow of cash, including freezing bank accounts, property and other assets, to hinder their activities. 'It will allow us to target the assets and operations of people smugglers wherever they operate, cutting off their funding and dismantling their networks piece by piece,' said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. 'There is no hiding place for those who exploit vulnerable people and put lives at risk for profit.' Experts gave the announcement a cautious welcome as the latest statistics showed more than 23,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel since the start of the year. The rate is running 50 per cent higher than last year, despite government promises to 'smash the gangs'. 'Targeting fixers and infrastructure suppliers aims to make them untouchable in the illegal migration business and represents a new front in the UK's efforts to control a business model that brings profit to the enablers and misery to those caught up in this crime,' said Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Rusi think tank.
Free Malaysia Today
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Why Malaysian Indians are mourning the wrong heroes
From Charles Santiago It is both painful and telling to witness thousands of young Malaysian Indians, including schoolchildren, turning up in force for the funerals of gang leaders and underworld figures. Meanwhile, the passing of educators, scholars, or community leaders who have dedicated their lives to uplifting the Malaysian Indian community barely registers. This is not merely a moral failing but a reflection of a nation that has, for decades, normalised the exclusion and degradation of an entire ethnic group. For too long, Indians in Malaysia have lived under the shadow of structural neglect and state-sanctioned second-class citizenship. There are no meaningful affirmative action policies to uplift the community. Disparities in education, access to business capital, and government procurement opportunities are entrenched. Derogatory terms like 'keling' continue to be used without consequence. The casual branding of Indians as alcoholics, criminals, and gangsters – by the media, by policymakers, and in public discourse – has robbed generations of dignity and self-worth. But even despair has context. What the crowds at these funerals signal is not just misplaced loyalty. It is the scream of a community cornered, of youth who have been told, over and over again, that the system was never built for them. When formal institutions abandon people, informal power fills the vacuum. This is what we are seeing: a loyalty born not of choice but of exclusion. The 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) provides the government with a strategic policy and implementation space to meaningfully address the marginalisation of Malaysian Indians. We need to put forward a bold, community-driven framework to confront systemic exclusion and offer a real pathway to empowerment, especially for the bottom 60% (B60) of Indian households. Policymakers could focus on four urgent areas of intervention – education reform, youth and women empowerment, SME development, and institutional accountability – and these should be prioritised as a blueprint for survival. If embedded into 13MP and future national development agendas, these proposals could help shift the Malaysian Indian narrative from dependency to agency, from marginalisation to shared prosperity. This is not about special treatment; it is about justice – about repairing the damage of decades of structural neglect and finally allowing Malaysian Indians to participate fully and equitably in national development. To ignore this moment, to once again sideline the voices of a hurting, frustrated, and disillusioned community, is to risk losing another generation. If the government truly cares about social cohesion, nation-building, and justice, then it must start by recognising where it has failed – and act decisively to correct it. This is not a call for pity. It is a call for political will. Charles Santiago is a political economist and a former MP. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Government to create new law in drug trafficking crackdown
The Government is proposing a new law to criminalise the practice of "plugging", where gang leaders coerce vulnerable people into concealing drugs and cash inside their bodies. The amendment will be incorporated into the Crime and Policing Bill to combat county lines drug operations, where children and vulnerable adults are often forced to swallow or hide items, risking serious harm and fatal overdose. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said the new offence aims to hold gang leaders accountable and could lead to a decade in prison. The government has committed £42 million to tackle county lines gangs, resulting in over 800 violent criminals charged and 1,200 drug lines closed since July 2024. Jack O'Neill of The Children's Society said that children forced to carry drugs are victims of abuse and exploitation.
