The police chief warns of an increasing threat of people smuggling as the number of Channel crossings increases

The scale of the Channel crossings is “significant” amid the “growing” threat of people smuggling, a police chief has warned after thousands of arrests were made in the largest ever global operation of its kind.

Britain was one of 116 countries and territories that took part in Interpol’s week-long Operation Liberterra II, which resulted in 2,517 arrests around the world.

About 3,222 potential trafficking victims were rescued and 17,793 illegal migrants were also identified as part of raids carried out in late September and early October.

The results of the operation emerged after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged that the Government would ‘treat people smugglers as terrorists’ as he announced an additional £75 million for its Border Security Command during a speech at Interpol’s general meeting in Glasgow.

Richard Chambers, the law enforcement agency’s director of organized and emerging crime, told the PA news agency that “everyone” is concerned about the huge number of migrants crossing the Channel into Britain, describing the more than 31,000 making the journey. have made so far this year. years as “significant”.

Asked how long it would take for such enforcement activities to lead to fewer crossings, he said: “That’s a very difficult question to answer.”

Interpol will “absolutely play our role in making that difference. But it’s not up to us alone.

“It won’t happen overnight, but it will continue to be a huge, coordinated effort among many partners.”

Operation Liberterra II “told us that this particular type of crime is very diverse. It develops. It develops quickly. It is a growing problem.”

The problem is “more than any one country,” he said, recounting how the operation “shined a spotlight on the threat human trafficking poses to the world.”

Speaking from the General Assembly on Wednesday, he said: “We heard from the British Prime Minister earlier this week how important this issue is. So Britain has a very important role to play in this effort.”

Sir Keir “has made a very clear statement about the priority his government places on this issue, which is accompanied by our full support to assist law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions worldwide with increased operations,” he added.

During the operation, Tunisian authorities intercepted 27 people, including 21 children, who attempted to travel to Britain “under the pretext of a language study trip,” Interpol said.

This led to three suspects being arrested after the National Crime Agency (NCA) found them in Britain. They are now facing prosecution on smuggling charges.

A total of nine people were arrested in Britain as part of the operation, as the NCA searched for suspects wanted in Belgium, Germany, France and Romania for people smuggling, human trafficking and modern slavery.

Raids took place in Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Kent, the NCA said.

This included a 32-year-old Syrian man who was arrested in Nottingham and wanted by Romanian authorities for “illegally transporting migrants from Bulgaria to Romania, onwards to the Netherlands”.

Another suspect was arrested by police in Northern Ireland.

Extradition proceedings are now underway for all nine suspects.

Rick Jones of the NCA said the operation is a “great example of our commitment to working closely and effectively with international partners to tackle human smuggling and trafficking.”

One of the objectives of Operation Liberterra II was to “better understand the global threat. And the results demonstrate the importance of what is undoubtedly a growing threat,” Mr Chambers said, adding that he was “overwhelmed” by the sheer scale of the problem, given the number of potential victims identified and the number of irregular migrants and arrests.

Rising tensions around the world are “fueling a lot of this activity because the reality is that people are looking for a better place of safety,” he said, adding: “Organized crime groups are exploiting that. They exploit these vulnerabilities and don’t care about the consequences.”

More operations of this scale will follow as Interpol hears “increasingly” about the “threat posed by human trafficking” from its 196 member states, Chambers said.

The operation uncovered dozens of cases where trafficking victims were “tricked and coerced into committing fraud,” for example through online scams, “marking a clear departure from traditional human trafficking patterns, where human exploitation is the sole criminal purpose,” said Interpol.

In many of these cases, the victims were “lured with false promises of work and held there through intimidation and abuse.”