Major new plan to destroy criminal people smuggling gangs agreed by UK and G7 countries

A major new international plan aimed at destroying the criminal gangs responsible for smuggling illegal migrants into Britain was agreed on Friday, the Home Office said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has signed the G7 Anti-Smuggling Action Plan, which the government hopes will “strengthen border security, fight organized crime and protect the vulnerable from exploitation by migrant smugglers”.

Joint investigations will be carried out by law enforcement agencies to tackle criminal gangs and result in greater intelligence sharing between Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States to “faster identification and disruption of dangerous networks guarantee”. the government said.

Nations will also work with social media platforms to remove content that promotes illegal migration services or advertises fake jobs, as part of the agreement.

Britain’s new Border Security Command, led by former Met chief Martin Hewitt, will play a key role in implementing the plan.

More than 25,000 people have made the perilous journey from France to Britain in small boats this year, according to Home Office data.

Ms Cooper, who met G7 Home and Security Ministers in Avellino, Italy this week, said: “Criminal smuggling gangs organizing small boat crossings are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

“Our new government is quickly accelerating cooperation with other countries to crack down on these dangerous gangs.

“The recently agreed G7 Action Plan places a key focus on international law enforcement and reflects our determination to work with global partners on these shared challenges.

“New international joint investigation teams will help coordinate cross-border action and will complement the actions we have already taken to establish the UK Border Security Command and support it with new funding.

“The plan will help increase both voluntary and forced returns of migrants to their countries of origin. It aims to provide migrants with more choices and improve the overall management of migration flows.”

It comes as more than a dozen migrants who had crossed the Channel in a small boat were brought to shore on Friday – the first arrivals after a period of bad weather.

Photos show people wearing life jackets arriving in Dover on a Border Police vessel on Friday after a period of windy conditions.

These are the first crossings since Sunday, when 59 people arrived in one boat, according to Home Office figures, bringing the provisional total for 2024 so far to 25,244.

According to the latest data released Thursday, the year-to-date total is 0.3 percent lower than this time last year (25,330) and 25 percent lower than the same period in 2022 (33,611).

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We all want to put an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

‘As we have seen in so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, people smuggling gangs don’t care whether the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.

“We will do everything we can to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”