Photo credit: BBC
The Home Office has said thirty-five people have been arrested during a crackdown on people smuggling gangs “exploiting the Common Travel Area (CTA)”.
The BBC quotes the Home Office as saying seventeen were arrested in Northern Ireland, and the remainder were arrested in Scotland and England.
It added that immigration enforcement teams, alongside police forces and other international partners, “descended on locations including Belfast, Scotland, Liverpool, and Manchester.”
During the operation, 5,000 pounds of “criminal cash, a car and two fraudulent identity documents were seized”.
“These documents, which are critical tools used by people-smuggling gangs, enable them to evade immigration controls,” the Home Office said.
“Created by criminal networks, counterfeit documents allow migrants to bypass border checks, trapping vulnerable people in further illegal activities.
By exploiting these people, the gangs not only profit but also place them at risk of severe legal and personal consequences.”
The multi-agency operation was led by the Immigration Enforcement’s criminal and Financial Investigation team (CFI), in partnership with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), other UK police forces, and An Garda Siochana (Irish police)
The minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said the government “will not stand by as criminal gangs exploit vulnerable people, giving them false hope of a better life in the UK.
“We are taking the fight to them on every front with our new Border Security Command.” a
The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a special travel zone covering the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
While citizens can travel freely between the countries, the CTA rights do not extend to migrants.
However, on September 14, people were arrested at Belfast’s two airports and docks over three days by the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement.
