New investment for Border Security Command

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

As part of the new strengthening of Border Security Command, the National Crime Agency (NCA), police and other law enforcement agencies are to receive a significant injection of funding to strengthen UK border security and dismantle criminal people smuggling gangs.

The investment comes ahead of an expected attempt by the smuggling gangs to cram ever more vulnerable people into unseaworthy boats launched from the French coast as long as the weather holds. Their industrial-scale smuggling business is under sustained pressure from coordinated UK and European law enforcement partners.

The Home Secretary announced the package of up to £75 million, which redirects funds originally allocated to the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act. It will unlock cutting-edge new technology and additional capabilities for the NCA to strengthen UK border security and disrupt criminal people-smuggling gangs. The investment is designed to build on a pattern of successful upstream disruptions announced last week at an operational summit attended by the Prime Minister at the NCA’s headquarters.

The new capabilities include:

• Hidden cameras and state-of-the-art surveillance technology, improving evidence collection, speeding up investigations and increasing the likelihood of successful prosecutions.
• the establishment of a new unit to improve intelligence gathering within UK police forces and information flows to partners, alongside a strengthening of the number of prosecutors working within the Crown Prosecution Service to conduct investigations and bring those responsible swiftly to justice
• recruitment of additional staff for the new Border Security Command, led by Commander Martin Hewitt, which will oversee the cooperation of all organisations involved in crushing the gangs
• more work to tackle organised crime groups facilitating illegal migration upstream by stepping up efforts in transit countries to prevent small boat outfits from reaching the French coast

The announcement follows yesterday’s meeting between the Prime Minister and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome to discuss systematic bilateral cooperation on border security. Italy has seen a significant drop in irregular migration thanks to stricter enforcement and improved cooperation with international partners.

The newly appointed Border Security Commander – a Director General senior civil servant appointment – ​​Martin Hewitt joined the British delegation in Rome. The enhanced technical and human resources announced today will provide an important platform for the work he will coordinate between UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies when he formally takes up his role in the coming weeks.

The funding will also cover the deployment of 100 additional specialist investigators to the NCA, announced by the government last month. This represents a 25% increase in the number of staff dedicated to tackling organised immigration crime.

The government has also announced a 50% increase in the number of British officers stationed at Europol, in a bid to support European operations to dismantle organised crime groups that facilitate people smuggling.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

Criminal gangs are getting away with undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. Border Security Command will undertake a major overhaul and upgrade of law enforcement efforts against smugglers and human trafficking gangs to improve our border security.

Thanks to cutting-edge technology and extensive intelligence services, we can use every resource at our disposal to dismantle this despicable trade.

Rob Jones, Director General of the NCA, said:

I am pleased with this funding, which will enable us to enhance and expand our technology, data exploitation and capacity building both internationally and in the UK.

Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA. We are currently conducting around 70 investigations into gangs and individuals involved in the highest levels of criminality. We are devoting more resources to this than ever before.

We are committed to doing everything we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks wherever they operate.

Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions at the CPS, said:

CPS prosecutors bring significant expertise to the new unit to help stop human trafficking gangs and recover all assets obtained through crime.

Together with partners, we continue to discourage, disrupt and dismantle this exploitative trade through prosecutions and cross-border cooperation.

The announcement comes amid a concerted effort by UK ministers to address shared border security challenges. Immigration Minister Dame Angela Eagle is attending the annual Berlin Process Home Secretary meeting in Germany today (Tuesday 17 September) to discuss strengthening border security, tackling organised crime groups and combating violence against women and girls in the Western Balkans region.

The meeting brings together European partners with a focus on cooperation with partners in the Western Balkans, a key region for the journey of irregular migrants through Europe and in many cases onwards to the UK.