Big rise in arrests as NCA targets people smuggling networks
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Big rise in arrests as NCA targets people smuggling networks
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Big rise in arrests as NCA targets people smuggling networks
National Crime Agency arrests for offences linked to people smuggling have gone up by more than 55 per cent in a year, according to new figures.
In the year to April 2026 the NCA was involved in around 300 arrests, both in the UK and overseas, compared to 190 the year before.
Over the same period 59 people were convicted of organised immigration crime (OIC) offences including in UK courts as a result of NCA investigations.
Meanwhile during the financial year 2025/26 the NCA led on 400 disruptions against OIC networks, each of which will have removed, prevented or reduced a criminal threat, compared to 350 in the previous year.
The increases follow an uplift in resource with extra officers deployed to focus solely on organised immigration crime.
This is in addition to those, including core investigations and intelligence staff, whose work would already see them target OIC networks alongside a range of other crime types.
Organised immigration crime now accounts for around a quarter of the NCA’s overall operational activity, with around 100 investigations ongoing into the top tier of this form of criminality. These investigations involve the highest harm, highest threat crime groups or individuals.
NCA Director General Operations, Rob Jones, said:
“The NCA’s role is to target the organised gangs behind people smuggling, and we use our full range of law enforcement tactics to disrupt and dismantle networks wherever they operate, preventing harm to those they exploit for profit, protecting lives and the UK’s border security.
“Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA, and we are putting more resource into targeting the criminal networks behind it than ever before.
“We are also taking the fight against the gangs outside of Europe to locations like Iraq and Libya, targeting criminal networks who are operating in locations where they previously thought themselves untouchable.”
Among those convicted in 2025/26 was Egyptian national Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid, jailed for 25 years in May 2025 for smuggling of thousands of people across the Mediterranean from north Africa into Europe. Working with law enforcement partners in Italy, the NCA were able to link him to a number of illegal crossings from Libya, arresting him in Hounslow, London.
Meanwhile in January 2026 Adam Savas, who supplied thousands of boats and engines to people smugglers, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after an investigation involving the NCA and Belgian partners.
Also in January and February 2026 six people were arrested by the NCA for people smuggling offences after a lorry containing 23 people was stopped at Dover port in Kent.
And in March 2026 NCA officers deployed to Germany to take part in an operation that saw four people arrested as part of an operation targeting another network supplying equipment to small boat gangs.
“As these cases show, we aim to target people smuggling organised crime groups at every step of the route, in source countries, in transit countries, near the UK border in France and Belgium, and those operating inside the UK itself.
“We know our activity is having an impact, we are having a disruptive effect on OCGs, and we are making the UK a more difficult place for them to target.”
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris said:
"This government is delivering the biggest crackdown on people smuggling ever seen. Dedicated efforts from our National Crime Agency officers have driven a 55% surge in organised immigration crime arrests — ramping up action to tackle the gangs behind this trade.
"This comes as we've launched a record-breaking number of enforcement actions, including arrests and sanctions, against migrant smuggling networks since coming into office.
“Make no mistake, we will track down, detain and arrest the vile criminals who bring illegal migrants to our shores.”
The NCA continues to target the business models of the criminal networks involved in organising Channel crossings, and in 2025 our work with international partners saw more than 500 boats and engines seized, preventing them being put to sea eating in to the OCGs potential profits.
During the same year we also worked with social media networks to have more than 10,000 accounts, posts or pages linked to organised immigration crime removed from their platforms.