Police seize bespoke 'smuggling kits' being sold to Channel migrant traffickers - complete with dinghies, engines and even tyre inner tubes used as makeshift lifejackets
Police have smashed an organised crime gang supplying ‘smuggling kits’ including inflatable boats and engines to Channel traffickers.
The kits – priced at between £9,000 and £17,000 – were offered to people smuggling rings involved in sending migrants from France to the UK.
Police in Belgium, France and Germany arrested 17 people involved in providing the equipment during today's raids, including four Syrian nationals suspected of organising the illegal operation.
The criminal network is suspected of arranging frequent deliveries of nautical equipment in what police described as ‘unique sea smuggling packages’.
A spokesman for Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA, which was involved in the raids, said: 'Investigators believe that had these kits reached the French coast, they could have been used to transport around 1,000 people to the UK.'
A spokesman for Europol, the European Union’s cross-border law enforcement agency, said: ‘The criminal network is suspected of arranging frequent deliveries of nautical equipment.
‘A joint investigation …resulted in a significant disruption of the migrant smuggling supply chain serving criminal networks active along the English Channel.’
Maritime equipment including 11 inflatable boats, one outboard motor and life vests were seized, along with petrol jerry cans.
Police also confiscated boxes of tyre inner tubes to be used as makeshift life vests, weapons, gold bars and almost 60 000 euros (£52,000) in cash.
Police involved in the cross-border operation, pictured at an undisclosed location, inspect maritime equipment sold as ‘unique sea smuggling packages’ to Channel migrant smugglers
‘The equipment was produced in Asia and imported from Turkey via sea and land borders, arriving in bulk in Germany,’ the spokesman said.
‘There, it was stored in warehouses controlled by the network.
Officers seen with an outboard motor and other maritime equipment after the raids took place at 14 locations across Germany and Belgium
Police and other officials inspect an uninflated dinghy at one of the locations raided during the cross-border operation
Police count some of the 60 000 euros (£52,000) in cash seized during the operation, along with weapons and gold bars
‘The equipment was used to assemble unique sea smuggling packages, coordinated by an associated group.
‘Criminal networks operating in northern France purchased these kits in Germany or had them delivered to the French shores, often for an additional fee.
‘They used the equipment to smuggle migrants across the English Channel using low-quality inflatable boats, many of whom originate from the Middle East and East Africa.’
Each smuggling package was sold for between 10,000 and 20,000 euros on the black market.
The Europol spokesman said with each Channel migrant paying 1,000 to 2,000 euros for their illegal crossing and each boat carrying an average of 66 people, it meant that after purchasing the bespoke kits the smuggling gangs could earn 100,000 euros (£86,600) per boat
Officers involved in the operation searched 14 locations, two in Belgium and 12 in the west of Germany - the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Marl, Bottrop, Herdecke, and Lüdenscheid.
The investigation involved the UK’s NCA and the Crown Prosecution Service, plus police and judicial authorities in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The NCA's deputy director of investigations, Craig Turner, said: 'We believe this operation has successfully disrupted and dismantled a significant organised crime group supplying equipment to people smugglers operating in the Channel.
'These vessels are completely unsuitable for what they are being used for, with 70 or more people crammed on, propelled by a hugely under-powered engine.
'The fact that they are being put into the open sea in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes demonstrates the complete disregard these criminal networks have for the safety of those they transport.
'This operation will have dealt a blow to their business model and supply lines.'
