Organised Immigration Crime tackled at UK’s borders

As part of a major multi‑agency operation under the work of the Domestic Organised Immigration Crime taskforce, the NPCC worked closely with police forces across the UK, alongside the Home Office, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, to target offenders exploiting the Common Travel Area.

The Common Travel Area is an agreement that lets British and Irish citizens travel freely between the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands without a routine passport check.

The operation, which ran between Sunday, 22 and Thursday, 26 February, focused on disrupting and identifying suspected criminals, people abusing immigration systems and protecting those at risk, and included:

• Officers positioned at seaports to detect clandestine entries into the UK.

• Stopping and searching vehicles on the A55 suspected of involvement in illegal immigration or exploitation.

• Using Live Facial Recognition technology to assist in detection of people wanted for immigration offences.

• Patrolling the rail networks directly accessible from borders.
• Deploying teams to airports to identify people’s attempts to move into the country illegally.

As a result of the operation:

• 58 people were arrested, including 40 for immigration offences
• 40 people were refused entry into the UK
• £50,000 in cash was seized
• £180,000 (street value) of cannabis was seized
• £50,000 (street value) of tobacco suspected to be brought into the country illegally was seized

Organised Immigration Crime Domestic Taskforce lead, DCC Wendy Gunney, said: 

“Last week we leveraged all of law enforcement’s powers at the UK’s borders to target people who come to the UK to commit any form of criminality.

“It has been a significant joint effort involving many officers, staff, and partner agencies across the rail network, roads, seaports and airports. 

“This activity has generated strong results and crucial intelligence that will help us recognise patterns and better understand these criminal networks, ensuring we collectively continue to identify offenders and bring them to justice.”