Massive British people-smuggling racket smashed
A multi-million-pound people-smuggling empire regarded as one of the biggest in Europe was smashed by British police today as officers swooped on its most senior figures in a series of dawn raids across London.
Five men, including former asylum seekers alleged to have been among the vast criminal network’s highest ranking operators, were arrested in raids at 12 houses in London and one in Boston, Lincolnshire.
It is believed the group, a massive pan-European organisation, could potentially be responsible for smuggling tens of thousands of people – mainly Turkish Kurds – into Britain illegally in the last few years.
Senior officers consider it to be one of the largest, if not the largest, people-trafficking gang they have encountered.
One source described its scale as “absolutely massive” and “frightening”.
This morning’s raids were the culmination of a huge two-year Scotland Yard investigation, codenamed Bluesky, which has involved 200 officers and co-operation from law enforcement agencies in five other European countries.
The five men arrested were held on suspicion of facilitating immigration. Two of their spouses were also arrested.
The gang is thought to have lured thousands of economic migrants from eastern Europe to Britain with the promise of a better life.
Each would have probably paid between £3,000 (€4,400) and £5,000 (€7,300) to be smuggled – in groups of up to 20 at a time – from the Balkans. They would be brought across mainland Europe to the continent’s northern coastal ports – a tortuous journey lasting several months.
Once there they waited in safehouses until the time was right for them to be smuggled into Britain in cramped secret compartments hidden in lorries, cars or ferries.
Some were even taken across the English Channel in light aircraft and flown into small provincial airfields in Kent and Cambridgeshire.
Once in Britain, most have simply been absorbed into north London’s Turkish community, working in low-paid, menial jobs in the capital’s black market economy.
Some have been given stolen or forged UK papers, while many have used the money they earn to sponsor other family members to make the gruelling trip.
The smuggling ring is estimated to have made tens of millions of pounds from the racket, some of which has been invested in businesses such as cafés and snooker halls. Much of the money has flowed out of the country and police are still trying to trace where and to whom it has gone.
Police have intervened 20 times in the gang’s smuggling operations in the last three years in attempts to disrupt its activities.
The network’s kingpins are thought to have come to Britain from Turkey as asylum seekers and have since been granted indefinite leave to remain.
This morning’s raids were part of Scotland Yard’s Operation Maxim, which was set up to tackle organised immigration crime in London.
Law enforcement officials in France, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Denmark and Europol have all contributed to the investigation.
| Related Stories: |
|
