Latest news with #people-smuggling
Sky News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
UK sanctions dozens, including 'gangland bosses', in people-smuggling crackdown
The UK has sanctioned 25 people-smuggling bosses and enablers as part of a crackdown on irregular migration. Gang ring leaders, key smugglers, fake passport suppliers, underground banking operators and a company in China accused of advertising its small boats online for the purpose of people-smuggling have all been targeted. Earlier this week, the government announced new powers under the Sanctions Act to allow the UK to freeze the assets of anyone complicit in smuggling illegal migrants into the country. They can also be banned from travelling to the UK. Working with the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Foreign Office has now identified individuals and entities it says are involved in smuggling people over the Channel. 2:04 People smugglers and underground bankers Among those on the new sanctions list are seven Iraqi-linked individuals. Several are accused of helping smuggle migrants across the Channel in the back of lorries. The government said another runs safe houses for migrants in France before they attempt the crossing. Also sanctioned are three "hawala bankers", people who funnel cash through an underground payment system known as Hawala. 'Gangland bosses' and passport forgers Two North African gangs operating in the Balkans are also on the list, including the Kazawi gang, which controls people smuggling routes from North Africa into the EU and is known to deal out harsh punishments to migrants who are unable to pay. The other is the Tetwani gang, known as one of the Balkans' most violent people smuggling gangs, with members reported to hold migrants for ransom and sexually abuse women unable to pay their fees. Four gang bosses have also been designated, including the leaders of the Kazawi and Tetwani gangs, the Albanian head of a smuggling ring moving people from Belgium to the UK, and a former police translator who became the boss of a large network of corrupt policemen through violence and intimidation. Two organised crime groups in the Balkans that organise fake passports and forged documents, and six men from the gangs, have also been sanctioned. 0:27 The list ends with Weihai Yamar Outdoors Product Co, a Chinese company which has advertised small boats on an online marketplace as "refugee boats". They have since removed the reference from their website. 'Landmark moment' Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "This is a landmark moment in the government's work to tackle organised immigration crime, reduce irregular migration to the UK, and deliver on the Plan for Change. "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. "My message to the gangs who callously risk vulnerable lives for profit is this: we know who you are, and we will work with our partners around the world to hold you to account." NCA director general Graeme Biggar said the new sanctions powers will complement the work of his agency to "undermine and frustrate" the operational capability of a "wide range of organised immigration crime networks". The first half of 2025 saw a record number of small boat crossings, with almost 20,000 people making the dangerous journey from January to July - the highest ever in that period, and 48% more than the first half of 2024.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK sanctions target people-smugglers, small boat dealer in migrant crackdown
LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Britain announced sanctions on Wednesday on 24 people and one company it said were involved in people-smuggling, as part of efforts to cut the number of migrants arriving on small boats. Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to "smash the gangs" behind irregular migration when he came to power last year, but in the first six months of 2025 the number of migrants coming across the Channel has jumped nearly 50% to 20,000 from the same period last year. The new sanctions regime, first outlined in January, will target those who supply and finance small boats, forge fake documents and funnel cash through an underground payment system known as Hawala, the government said. "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," foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement. The sanctions are designed to disrupt the flow of money by freezing property and bank accounts, the government said. It named seven Iraqi-linked individuals it said were involved in people-smuggling, as well as eight people from the Balkans who supply fake passports. Sanctions were also imposed on a company in China which advertises its small boats online explicitly for the purpose of people smuggling, and a number of people who work from Belgium and Serbia, and who were described as "gangland bosses" by Britain.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
First sanctions targeting people-smuggling gangs take effect
The first wave of sanctions aimed at key figures in people-smuggling gangs have come into force in a bid to hit those involved in assisting illegal immigration to the UK. They target 25 individuals and entities including a small boat supplier in Asia and gang leaders based in the Balkans and North Africa. They also hit 'middlemen' putting cash through the Hawala legal money transfer system in the Middle East, which is used in payments linked to Channel crossings. 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. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said 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. 'My message to the gangs who callously risk vulnerable lives for profit is this: we know who you are, and we will work with our partners around the world to hold you to account.' The measures 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 be illegal for UK businesses and banks to deal with anyone named on the list. 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.
The Sun
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
We are taking REAL steps to tackle illegal migration that WILL deliver results & ensure fairness for Brits
WE will stop at nothing to tackle illegal migration. So this week we have delivered a world first: a new sanctions regime to target the vile people-smuggling gangs. The first sanctions are hitting these criminals today. 2 2 We will go after the gang leaders, those supplying boats and fake passports, and the moneymen. Their assets will be frozen. Their bank accounts will be closed. And they will be banned from the UK. For too long, governments have offered nothing but expensive gimmicks – like the Rwanda scheme which achieved precisely zero. Instead, we're taking real, practical steps that will deliver results. We've already returned 35,000 people with no right to be here – way up on the year before. We're working with Germany to close a legal loophole in their system, allowing police to seize small boats being stored and transported in their country. By working with France, we have agreed to a totally unprecedented returns pilot. Now, for the first time, migrants arriving by small boat can be sent back to France. Other governments tried to do this and failed. We're also taking a zero-tolerance approach to the illegal jobs which gangs promise – and which undercut honest businesses. Under our nationwide crackdown, raids and arrests are already up 50%. The Sun has rightly put the spotlight on migrants working illegally as food delivery riders. And we're tackling the problem. A new agreement announced today will see us share asylum accommodation locations with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats. If a rider is staying at this accommodation, the companies will know and can close down the rider's account. Our message to the gangs is clear. We will be more aggressive than ever to smash your business model and hold you to account. We will do what it takes to uphold the law and to ensure fairness for the British people.
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Starmer's sanctions plan for people smugglers ‘far-fetched', say experts
Keir Starmer's plan to use sanctions to help 'smash the gangs' profiting from people-smuggling in the Channel seems 'far-fetched' and any success may be difficult to evaluate, security and immigration experts have said. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, announced plans on Tuesday to target corrupt police officers, fake passport dealers and firms supplying small boats for people-smuggling. The first measures are due to be announced on Wednesday along with the names of individuals and companies, and are seen as central to government plans to tackle criminal networks. But the plans have been met with scepticism from those who have previously examined the use of sanctions. Tom Keatinge, the director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute, said the government must guard against 'overpromising'. 'I would caution against overpromising. Talk of freezing assets and using sanctions to 'smash the gangs' seems far-fetched and remains to be seen. History suggests that such assertions hold governments hostage to fortune,' he said. Lammy said the sanctions regime was 'the first of its kind anywhere on the planet' and a key step in ending 'the status quo' in which criminal gangs preyed on 'vulnerable people with impunity'. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'We are leading; others will follow.' But Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said a similar scheme had been set up last year by the EU and there was still little evidence that such schemes worked. He said: 'There is a lack of high-quality evidence on the impact of sanctions of this specific kind. An EU scheme launched in January last year also used sanctions to target people smugglers, gangs, and other criminals. 'For now, there is insufficient operational detail to be able to evaluate these sanctions' potential impact on cross-Channel smuggling. 'There are some difficult challenges in this area. For example, many smuggling networks operate outside the UK with minimal UK‑based assets or visibility, limiting the effectiveness of asset freezes. Moreover, smugglers often use informal money exchange mechanisms like the hawala system, which operates outside the formal financial system, making it difficult to trace and freeze funds. Worldwide, hawala has proven notoriously difficult to regulate.' The names of about two dozen people accused of facilitating the trade or profiting from it are expected to be released on Wednesday. A leading member of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government on immigration, said the impact could be limited. Dr Madeleine Sumption, the MAC's deputy chair, said she would be 'surprised' if the sanctions were a 'gamechanger for the industry as a whole, and for the existence of the small boats route'. 'There are so many people involved in the industry that targeting people individually is probably only going to have an impact around the margins,' she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. She added: 'The impact is dependent to an extent on the cooperation of other countries where smugglers are operating.' Further sanctions packages are expected to include corrupt public officials and police officers, while the initial list published on Wednesday is intended to signal the type of targets the UK is pursuing as part of longer-term efforts. The government is under growing pressure from opposition parties and its own backbenchers over irregular migration. Starmer made tackling illegal migration at source a key election pledge last year. Refugee charities have maintained that the only way to stop people from travelling in small boats to the UK is to open alternative routes for people to apply for asylum. Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said sanctions may help disrupt some of the criminal networks but enforcement alone would not stop dangerous channel crossings. 'We know from our frontline services that the men, women and children risking their lives in small boats are often fleeing places like Sudan, where war has left them with nowhere else to turn. People do not cross the channel unless what lies behind them is more terrifying than what lies ahead,' he said.
