The National Crime Agency (NCA) has reported a significant surge in arrests related to people smuggling, with figures increasing by over 55 per cent in the past year.
The agency was involved in 300 arrests, both within the UK and overseas, in the year leading up to April 2026. This marks a substantial rise from the 190 arrests recorded in the preceding year.
This increase is attributed to an expansion of resources, including a greater number of officers now dedicated solely to tackling organised immigration crime, the NCA added.
Rob Jones, the NCA’s director general of operations, emphasised the agency’s commitment: “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.”
Over the 2025 to 2026 period, some 59 people were convicted of organised immigration crime (OIC) offences in UK courts following NCA investigations.
This includes UK-based people smuggler Ahmed Ebid, who was jailed for 25 years in May last year after he exploited migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation.
Egyptian-born Ebid helped organise the movement of thousands migrants on boat crossings from North Africa into Europe.
Turkish national Adem Savas was also sentenced to 11 years in prison in January 2026 after an investigation involving the NCA and Belgian authorities.
Mr Jones said Savas was the “most significant supplier of boats and engines to people smuggling gangs involved in organising deadly crossings in the Channel” after his sentencing earlier this year.
It was reported that the NCA believed that in 2023, Savas supplied equipment used in around half of all Channel crossings, making him the agency’s most wanted man as a key player in European people smuggling circles.
In January and February this year, the NCA arrested six people for people smuggling offences after a lorry containing 23 people was stopped at Dover port in Kent.
In March, NCA officers took part in an operation in Germany that saw four people arrested as part of an operation targeting another network supplying equipment to small boat gangs.
Mr Jones added: “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.”
During the 2025 to 2026 financial year, the NCA led on 400 disruptions against OIC networks – up from 350 in the previous year.
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.”
In 2025 the NCA’s work with international authorities saw more than 500 boats and engines seized.
That same year it worked with social media networks to have more than 10,000 accounts, posts or pages linked to organised immigration crime removed from their platforms.
