UK to invest extra £100 million in border security

Dangerous criminal gangs profiting from deadly small boat crossings will face a major new crackdown following a £100 million investment in border security, the Home Office has announced.

The funding will pay for up to 300 extra National Crime Agency officers (NCA), state-of-the-art detection technology and new equipment to smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel, it said in a statement on Monday (4 August).

The investment will see the Border Security Command, the NCA, the police and other law enforcement agency partners receive a significant cash injection to strengthen investigations targeting smuggling kingpins and disrupt their operations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

The package will boost existing law enforcement operations and allow more intelligence to be gathered on organised immigration crime gang members, support upstream capacity building, purchase sophisticated technology and equipment to strengthen UK border security and disrupt the people-smuggling gangs.

The announcement comes after the arrest and prosecution of major smuggling gang kingpins, the seizure of over 600 small boats and engines, and the disruption of a further 351 criminal gangs through the work of the NCA.

The comprehensive funding package will include:

Funding to support the new pilot of the ‘one-in, one-out’ returns agreement between the UK and France, which, for the first tim,e will see migrants who arrive illegally on small boats returned to France.
An uplift in NCA staff of up to 300 personnel focused on intelligence targeting crime gang members.
New state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the detection and disruption of organised immigration crime, including hi-tech surveillance capabilities, and AI-assisted intelligence and data analysis tools.
Funding to support the implementation of extended police powers to seize and download digital devices to gather evidence and intelligence was announced under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
Funding for the recently established Organised Immigration Crime Domestic Taskforce, which is driving law enforcement operations targeting the elements of organised immigration crime activity operating out of the UK, from the facilitation of boat crossings to the running of modern slavery networks.
Funding to intensify illegal working enforcement by increasing overtime for ICE teams, enabling more premium-time deployments, funding redeployment of officers to high-risk regions, boosting intelligence generation, and supporting sanctions teams to target non-compliant employers—delivering rapid operational uplift without requiring new permanent staff.
And funding to support a series of interventions upstream as well as intensified efforts in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia to target organised immigration crime, disrupt human trafficking and the supply of dangerous small boat equipment, while also continuing to correct the lies peddled by criminal gangs to would-be migrants.

The investment will also support the new powers that will be introduced when the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill becomes law, which will include the introduction of a UK-wide offence to criminalise the creation and publication of online material that promotes a breach of immigration law, such as the advertisement of small boat crossings on social media.

“For six years, the small boat smuggling gangs were allowed to embed their criminal trade along our coast, and have shown a ruthless ability to adapt their tactics and maximise their profits, no matter how many lives they put at risk. They must not be allowed to get away with this vile crime,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

“That is why this government has developed a serious and comprehensive plan to dismantle their business model, from disrupting their supply chains across the European continent to clamping down on their illegal working operations here in the UK,” she said.