£75m to tackle people smugglers – Theforgegastown

£75 million to tackle people smugglers

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced £75 million in funding to increase the number of Border Force officers and tackle people smugglers. This includes human trafficking.

Britain’s Border Security Command is to deploy advanced new technology, extra officers and additional covert capabilities across the system following a significant and immediate injection of funding, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced today.

The investment comes as people smugglers prepare to cram increasingly vulnerable people onto unsafe boats launched from the French coast while the weather remains mild. Their large-scale smuggling business is under constant pressure from British and European law enforcement.

The Home Secretary has announced an investment plan of up to £75 million, which will redirect funding from the previous government’s Illegal Immigration Act. It will unlock cutting-edge new technology and additional capabilities for the NCA. This will help strengthen the security of the UK’s borders and dismantle criminal gangs that smuggle people. The investment is designed to build on a series of successful upstream disruptions announced at an operational summit attended by the Prime Minister at the NCA’s headquarters last week.

The funding will also cover the appointment of 100 additional specialist investigators to the NCA, a move announced by the government last month that represents a 25 per cent increase in the agency’s workforce dedicated to tackling organised immigration crime.

The government also announced a 50% increase in the number of British officers at Europol, to support European operations aimed at dismantling organised crime gangs that facilitate human trafficking.