A crackdown on organised immigration crime gangs who operate small boat crossings has led to a surge in arrests, according to new data from the National Crime Agency.
Arrests for offences linked to people smuggling have increased by 55 per cent in a year.
There have been around 300 arrests in the year to April 2026. This number covers both the UK and overseas.
For 2024/25, there were 190 arrests of this nature and 26 convictions.
Despite the uptick in arrests, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said this is “not making any actual difference”, pointing to the Labour Party’s “weakness” being at the centre of the issue.
He told GB News: “It’s not making any actual difference to the illegal crossings. Numbers are up 45 per cent since the election.
“Over 70,000 illegal immigrants have crossed since the (2024) election – more under Keir Starmer than any other prime minister in history.
“The only way to fix this is the Conservative plan to leave the ECHR, which will enable us to deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival.
Egyptian national Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid was jailed for 25 years in May last year
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“Then the crossings will soon stop. But Labour is too weak to do this.”
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, told the People’s Channel that whilst this is a “welcome development” from the NCA, it is only “scratching the surface” of the issue.
He said: “This is a welcome development but it’s really scratching the surface.
“Arrests have always been made but not all lead to prosecution and conviction.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Adem Savas, a Turkish national, was sentenced to 11 years in prison
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“There are thousands of people around the world involved in illegal immigration who are beyond our jurisdiction and cannot be arrested, let alone prosecuted.
“Well done to the NCA but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that this is going to have much impact on the numbers making their way here illegally.”
In January and February, the NCA arrested six people for OIC offences after a lorry carrying 23 people on-board was stopped at Dover in Kent.
The following month, NCA teams were deployed to Germany to support an operation resulting in the arrest of four people who were supplying equipment to small boat gangs.
Since April 2025, 59 people have been convicted of OIC offences – over double in the previous financial year.
Among those convicted was an Egyptian national, Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid, who was jailed for 25 years in May last year.
He was found guilty of smuggling thousands of people across the Mediterranean from North Africa into Europe after being arrested in Hounslow, London.
Between October 2022 and June 2023, Ebid sourced and provided boats and crews for illegal Mediterranean crossings; offered technical advice to crews during the voyages; housed migrants ahead of departures; and handled required paperwork.
The NCA, working with Italian law enforcement, were able to link Ebid to organising illegal crossings from Libya.
He was connected to a criminal network who advertised crossings on Facebook, charging migrants an average of £3,273 per person.
The authorities intercepted seven crossings involving 3,781 migrants, with the people smugglers cashing in an estimated £12.3million.
Ebid had claimed his motivation was humanitarian and that he was a low-ranking member of the network, but the court rejected that account following a Newton hearing (a trial of the disputed facts) concluding he had been involved at a very high level for personal financial gain.
In January, Adem Savas, a Turkish national, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after the NCA, alongside Belgian law enforcement, built a successful case against him for supplying thousands of boats and engines to people smugglers.
Savas was the main importer of cheap Chinese-made outboard engines of the type most commonly used by smuggling gangs, moving boats and engines from Turkey through Bulgaria and across Europe to Germany before they were deployed in Channel crossings.
In the year to April 2026, the NCA said they led on 400 “disruptions” against OIC networks, which resulted in either the removal, prevention or reduction of criminal activity - this is 50 more operations than the previous year.
NCA Director General Operations Rob Jones said smashing the gangs “remains a top priority” for the agency, with more resources being poured into the effort “than ever before”.
He said: “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 resources 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.”
OIC-natured crime now accounts for a quarter of the NCA’s efforts, with 100 investigations ongoing at once.
Asylum Minister 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.”
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