Police have issued a stark warning that people-smuggling gangs have now set their sights on remote areas of England's south west coast to avoid being detected by the authorities.
Devon and Cornwall police chiefs confirmed they have received intelligence that the gangs are looking to exploit the hundreds of miles of vulnerable area in the region.
The authorities have recently acquired a new 36-foot boat, called Neptune, which will assist their operations against gangs profiting off illegal immigration and drug smuggling in the area.
The vessel was paid for by the Home Office and is armed with an underwater drone and a camera equipped with infrared technology.
Police have issued a stark warning that people-smuggling gangs have now set their sights on remote areas of England's south west coast
| PAAt the boat's launch event in Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall Chief Constable James Vaughan labelled it a "serious vessel".
The police chief noted that his force were "seeing threats from serious and organised crime groups involved in immigration and modern slavery".
He added: "Intelligence suggests that people smugglers and drug smugglers are coming further down the south coast as activity intensifies around the Channel coasts.
"It has been pushed down into Sussex and Dorset and Devon and Cornwall.
The authorities have recently acquired a new 36-foot boat, called Neptune, which will assist their operations
|PA
"It's important, which is why the Home Office has funded vessels, both here and in other south coast police forces, to help us work together.
"Having this capability helps us work with Border Force, the National Crime Agency, and regional units to tackle these national and international threats."
In 2020, 29 Vietnamese migrants were discovered to have been stuffed in a yacht travelling to the Cornish coast.
Workers at the fishing port of Newlyn, close to the town of Penzance, contacted the authorities after spotting dozens of men, women and children from Vietnam being hauled into vans.
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Devon and Cornwall police chiefs confirmed they have received intelligence that the gangs are looking to exploit the area
|WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The van that was seen transporting the illegal migrants was tracked down and stopped by police over 100 miles away shortly after they were alerted.
All but one of the Vietnamese nationals discovered were unaccounted for after the incident.
The authorities fear the migrants may be trapped working in Britain's black economy, working in the cannabis and sex industries.
Four men were handed prison sentences after being charged with people smuggling.
The authorities have also expressed fear that less frequent boat activity in the waters around south west England may embolden the gangs to try their luck in the region.
Detective Inspector Gary Bunn said: “Our coastal communities in Devon and Cornwall are fantastic at spotting things that stand out of the ordinary.
"They are close-knit communities, albeit the coastline is extensive, and so we continue to encourage them really to keep an eye on their local towns, their cities, their harbours.”
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