LONDON – British authorities have arrested a Turkish truck driver on suspicion of attempting to smuggle people from England to France after discovering 16 people in his vehicle trailer.
The 36-year-old driver, who was not identified, was stopped on Sunday at a junction on the M25 motorway in southwest London, the National Crime Agency said in a statement. The people discovered, including Algerian, Moroccan and Pakistani citizens, were also arrested on suspicion of immigration crimes.
Although there were no deaths, the case echoed a fatal 2019 smuggling episode when 39 people from Vietnam died in a refrigerated trailer in southeastern England. The smuggling trade in people is a huge and dangerous market, with people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and Asia forced to pay thousands of dollars to smugglers in exchange for dubious promises of transportation across borders into Western Europe.
In the statement from the National Crime Agency, Chris Hill, the branch’s operations manager, said: “People’s smuggling networks move migrants in both directions across the border, threatening the security of the United Kingdom and our European neighbors, but also putting lives at risk. “
The English Channel, which separates France from Britain, is among the busiest shipping areas in the world and a crucial route for smugglers transporting migrants across Europe. In November, Britain and France agreed to double the number of police officers patrolling a 150-kilometer stretch of the French coast that, according to countries, is used regularly by smugglers.
The United Nations refugee agency put pressure on national authorities to combat smuggling gangs, but also expressed concern about proposals to intercept boats in the English Channel, noting that sending vessels to “block small and fragile boats could result in incidents harmful and fatal. “
As more and more people tried to cross the English Channel illegally by boat last summer, the UN agency noted at a news conference in August that “the numbers remain low and manageable”, adding that many have taken risky trips to escape war and persecution. “Saving lives must be the first priority – both on land and at sea,” said the agency.
This month, Britain and France said they had cooperated in dismantling a gang suspected of buying second-hand boats that were emptied and buried on French beaches for later use in smuggling people across the English Channel. Each boat can carry 10 to 15 migrants, who pay between 2,500 and 3,000 euros, or $ 3,000 to $ 3,600, each for the voyage, the National Crime Agency said.
British immigration authorities made 418 arrests and secured 203 convictions in 2019, said the Home Office, with about half of those convicted found guilty of smuggling crimes.
Chris Philp, the British minister for immigration enforcement, said: “These dangerous crossings are facilitated by serious organized criminals who exploit people and profit from human misery.”