our men have been arrested as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation targeting a group with links to smuggling migrants into the UK by truck.
A 39-year-old man arrested in Dagenham Tuesday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration. He is said to be a senior member of the conspiracy.
Meanwhile, a 37-year-old man was arrested in Ilfordand two more men, aged 36 and 42, were detained at addresses in Streatham and Leytonstone, also on suspicion of complicity.
All are interrogated by NBA officers.
While placing people in trucks may make the problem less visible to the public, it is no less dangerous for those being smuggled, and unfortunately we have seen the tragic consequences this can have.
The arrests are linked to two separate events in 2019, in which a total of 32 migrants were found in the back of trucks in the The Netherlands and France. Both drivers and another facilitator were later jailed in those countries.
NCA investigators believe members of the group were also involved in arranging for truck break-ins, in which people were loaded onto them without drivers’ knowledge.
Tracking devices were fitted to the vehicles to locate them before migrants were placed in the back as they continued their journey to the UK.
Group members are also suspected of obtaining a boat as part of their plans to bring migrants across the Channel to the UK.
NCA Division Commander Andy Noyes said: “This operation is targeting those we suspect are key members of a criminal human smuggling group.
“Organized immigration crime is a chronic and dangerous threat and the smugglers do not consider the lives of the people they are trying to transport, whether that be by boat or in vehicles.
“While placing people in trucks may make the problem less visible to the public, it is no less dangerous for those being smuggled, and unfortunately we have seen the tragic consequences this can have.
“We are working with partners in the UK and abroad and are committed to doing everything we can to disrupt and dismantle the organized crime groups involved and break their business model.”
It is the second major operation in a week that the NCA has launched to deal with suspected people smugglers.
On Tuesday, July 5, about 40 people were arrested as NCA agents joined colleagues from around the world Europe in a series of raids targeting a network suspected of bringing thousands of people to the UK in small boats.
The operation would be the largest of its kind.