Criminal gangs will face up to 10 years in jail after Germany passed landmark new legislation on Friday, 19 December, to crack down on the criminal gangs involved in smuggling illegal migrants to the UK.
Due to come into force before the end of the year, this law means activities in Germany that facilitate migrant smuggling towards the UK are now a criminal offence, resulting in up to 10 years in jail.
The new legislation will mean gangs can no longer store small boats and engines in Germany before transporting them to France to use in Channel crossings and will strengthen existing UK-German law enforcement co-operation.
UK and German law enforcement agencies will now have stronger powers to take down the criminals behind the small boats, giving prosecutors more tools to tackle people smuggling and criminality of supply and storage of small boats equipment.
“Criminal smuggler gangs operate across borders, so governments and law enforcement need to co-operate across borders to bring them down,” said Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“This major change in German law is the result of our close partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime. We will continue to ramp up our international co-operation to strengthen our own border security. These are the partnerships we build abroad to make us stronger at home.”
The legislation will also strengthen sharing of information between the UK and German law enforcement to bring more people smugglers to justice.
The move come after more than 800 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Saturday, a record for a day in December, according to the Home Office.
The most arrivals recorded in December was 3,254 in 2024; 2,163 people have arrived so far this month. The arrivals on Saturday bring the total number of people who have crossed the Channel this year to 41,455. The record annual total was 45,755 in 2022.
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