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Thirty-three people have been arrested as part of an operation in what the Home Office has described as a “Northern Ireland people-smuggler crackdown”.<\/p>\n
Ports and airports in Northern Ireland, north-west England and Wales were targeted by Home Office Immigration Enforcement teams during a three-day operation.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five of the arrests were made in Northern Ireland, four across Manchester and Birmingham and four in the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
The operation focused on abuse of the Common Travel Area (CTA), the agreement between the UK and Ireland allowing for free movement between the two areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As well as the Home Office teams, the PSNI, other UK police forces, Garda (Irish police), National Crime Agency, Border Force and international partners were all involved in the operation.<\/p>\n
A part of it, \u00a317,000 in suspected criminal assets were seized and a heavy goods vehicle detained at Holyhead Port in Wales over an unpaid Clandestine Entrants Civil Penalty worth \u00a3144,000.<\/p>\n
The Home Office said that since July 2024, more than 60 arrests have been made and over \u00a3405,000 of criminal cash seized in the crackdown on abuse of the CTA.<\/p>\n
Thirty-three of those arrests were in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: “This government is using every tool at its disposal to take down the criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people in order to make quick cash. <\/p>\n
“We are breaking down the criminal networks at their root, with enforcement visits and arrests up by 38%.”<\/p>\n
Home Office Immigration Enforcement deputy director Ben Thomas said: “Criminal networks seek to bypass robust border checks through fraudulent means and trap vulnerable people into further illegal activities.<\/p>\n
“The success of this operation marks a significant step up in enforcement activity leading to the arrest of 33 criminals who attempted to abuse the Common Travel Area and undermine the UK’s border security.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n