UK police break human smuggling ring

UK police on Tuesday arrested at least 18 suspected of involvement in one of Europe’s largest human smuggling ring, in a series of 12 early morning raids across London and one in Lincolnshire.

Reports on the number of arrests have varied between 18 and 19, and those arrested include six men and two women in London. Seven of those are believed to be the ring leaders, who face conspiracy charges. Six others will be charged with residing in the country illegally. Those arrested also included former asylum seekers.

The joint operation code named ‘Bluesky’, was carried out by 200 British police working in conjunction with detectives from Italy, Holland, France, Belgium and Denmark.

Scotland Yard said the raids followed a two-year investigation into the smuggling network that brought illegal immigrants, predominantly from Turkey into London from mainland Europe.

The ring, allegedly a pan European organisation, may be behind the smuggling of up to 200,000 people into the UK, senior officials said. It is one of the biggest human trafficking operations the British police have encountered.

Bill Skelly, detective chief superintendent of the Metropolitan police, said that illegal immigration was a huge problem. “Worldwide it’s estimated that this is a business worth £8bn and for the UK it’s estimated that it’s as significant as the trafficking of class A drugs.”

Police said the gang is believed to have lured thousands of economic migrants from eastern Europe to Britain with the promise of a better life.

These illegal immigrants would have paid between £3,000 and £5,000 to be smuggled - in groups of up to 20 at a time - from the Balkans. The journey may have taken several months to cross from mainland Europe to the continent’s western coastal ports. According to Mr Skelly, “The mode of transport varied but it was inherently very dangerous.”

After arriving in Britain, most are believed to enter low-paid work in menial jobs. Some are believed to carry stolen or forged UK papers and many use the money they earn to sponsor other family members to make a similar trip to Britain.

The smuggling ring is estimated to have made tens of millions of pounds from the racket, a portion of which goes into businesses such as cafes and snooker halls.