Home secretary announces £75 million to crack down on people smugglers

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced £75m in funding to boost the number of border security officers and crack down on people smugglers.

The funding aims to deliver new technology and improve the capabilities of the UK’s Border Security Command, she said.

This comes after more than 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK over the weekend, eight of them dying trying to journey across the English Channel on Saturday.

Cooper said: “Criminal gangs are getting away with undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

“The Border Security Command will deliver a major overhaul and upgrade in law enforcement against smugglers and trafficking gangs to boost our border security.

“State-of-the-art technology and enhanced intelligence capabilities will ensure we are using every tool at our disposal to dismantle this vile trade.”

Money originally supposed to pay for the previous government’s Rwanda scheme will be redirected to fund the plans.

Following the election, the new Labour government scrapped the scheme that aimed to deter asylum seekers by sending those who arrived illegally in the UK to the East African country.

Hidden cameras and monitoring technology will also be included in the plan, which Cooper says is aimed to speed up investigations and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions.

Additionally, the National Crime Agency (NCA) will see an extra 100 specialist investigators, the government announced earlier this year.

NCA director-general Operations Rob Jones said: “I welcome this funding, which will allow us to improve and extend 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 leading around 70 investigations into the gangs or individuals involved in the highest echelons of criminality, and we are devoting more resources to it than ever before.

“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, wherever they operate.”

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said: “CPS prosecutors will bring significant expertise to the new unit to help stop human trafficking gangs in their tracks, and pursue any assets gained through criminality.

“Working with partners, we will continue to discourage, disrupt and dismantle this exploitative trade through prosecutions and cross-border collaboration.”